August 2021

ESG: Impact Investing

BEST OF BOTH WORLDS Investors are finding that financial performance and ESG ‘impact’ can be complementary goals Understanding the landscape of environmental, social and governance investing is critical to choosing the right investment strategy, particularly when it comes to the impact of that investment. As ESG investing continues to evolve and institutional investors have a growing number of strategies to pursue, they may find it challenging to navigate the wider array of options and to apply the appropriate nomenclature to the...

Índice Mundial de Pensiones de Mercer y el CFA Institute

Por Mercer & CFA Insititute Resulta fundamental garantizar la seguridad financiera de los individuos y las sociedades durante la jubilación, ya que la mayoría de los países se enfrentan actualmente a los efectos sociales, económicos y financieros del envejecimiento de la población. En 2020, estas cuestiones se han acentuado debido al COVID-19; sin embargo, no solo la pandemia y el envejecimiento de la población representan retos para los sistemas de pensiones de todo el mundo. El entorno económico actual, con...

US. Should the Federal Government ‘Green’ Its Pension Plan?

Climate change is posing an existential threat to more than just the planet. In fact, the federal government is concerned that weather-related risks will begin eroding the retirement portfolios of its employees. Read also US. Climate Change and Benchmarking Risk for Retirement Plans Earlier this year, the U.S. Government Accountability Office recommended that the board overseeing the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) for federal workers analyze the financial performance of companies in its portfolio, in light of risks related to climate change...

Climate Change 2021 The Physical Science Basis

By IPCC This Summary for Policymakers (SPM) presents key findings of the Working Group I (WGI) contribution to the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report (AR6)1 on the physical science basis of climate change. The report builds upon the 2013 Working Group I contribution to the IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) and the 2018–2019 IPCC Special Reports2 of the AR6 cycle and incorporates subsequent new evidence from climate science3 . This SPM provides a high-level summary of the understanding of the current state of...

The Origins of ESG in Pensions: Strategies and Outcomes

By Stephanie Lachance, Judith C. Stroehle As intergenerational stewards of capital, pension funds can have many good reasons to embrace environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues in their investment practices. Yet the particular structure of pension funds creates both advantages and disadvantages for the integration of ESG. This paper reviews the historical origins, regulatory mandates, and fund structures of pensions, to tease out exactly which of these characteristics enable and which of them impede the inclusion of ESG at pension...

UK. Pandemic widens pensions pot gender gap

The gender pensions gap grew to nearly £200,000 this year as the Covid-19 pandemic took a heavy toll on women’s finances, according to new analysis. The difference between the average pension pots of men and women aged over 55 grew to £184,000 in 2021, or £26,000 more than the previous year, according to research published this week by more2life, an equity release provider. Around one-third of women who took part in a UK-wide survey that was part of the analysis said...

La dimensión social de la inversión sostenible

Por SpainSif La inversión sostenible supuso en España un total de 285.454 millones de euros en 2019. Este tipo de inversión se materializa a través de la aplicación de diferentes estrategias como la exclusión simple, que elimina del universo de inversión actividades controvertidas, la exclusión en base a normas internacionales, la selección positiva de las entidades con mejor desempeño o best in class, y la integración, entre otras. Aunque tradicionalmente la parte ambiental ha supuesto la mayor ratio de la inversión...

Asia vast savings can bring on an ‘age of sustainability’

Insurance companies, pension funds, and other institutional investors in Asia and the Pacific can pave the way to a resilient and sustainable future. The recent global public health crisis has revealed that economies can no longer afford to return to old ways of doing things. But there could be a silver lining in a coming “age of sustainability” in Asia and the Pacific that can get countries growing strongly again. Reaching this new age, however, will require greater use of insurance...

Los factores ASG (2): Cómo pueden beneficiarse los mercados emergentes

Por Isabel Montojo, Olga Cantillo & Susana Del Granado Los factores ambientales, sociales, y de gobierno corporativo (ASG) están cambiando la forma en que se dirigen las empresas en todo el mundo, pero también están cambiando la forma en que se evalúa la actividad de esas empresas, con un impacto particular en los mercados emergentes. En una entrada anterior, explicamos la naturaleza de los principios ASG y cómo buscan que la actividad empresarial beneficie a los accionistas y a las comunidades/grupos...

Investing for sustainability impact will transform capital allocation

By Jonathan Rogers Swimming through the acronym-laden waters of the environmental, social and governance (ESG) landscape involves an often irritating thrash through that overwhelming thick alphabet soup, but it behoves anyone with a vested interest in the topic to become effortlessly familiar with all the letters and what they stand for. The latest to rise to the surface is IFSI – investing for sustainability impact. At first glance, this acronym might seem like another term that describes ESG. But not so...