June 2021
07Jun

Canada. Ontario’s newest university pension plan has a chance to get divestment right

On July 1, the University Pension Plan (UPP) will take responsibility for the pensions of faculty and staff at three of Ontario’s biggest universities: Guelph, Queen’s and Toronto. The UPP launch comes fast on the heels of the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) recent bombshell report that makes a powerful case for decarbonizing the global energy system. The usually conservative and historically pro-fossil fuel body released its new Net‐Zero Emissions by 2050 Scenario that charts a pathway to limit global...

June 7, 2021
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07Jun

UK. MMMM calls on DC pension providers to commit to net zero

The Make My Money Matter (MMMM) campaign has written to the CEOs of 20 of the UK's leading defined contribution (DC) pension providers to urge them to agree to “robust, ambitious, and front-loaded” net-zero targets ahead of COP26. The letter, from MMMM CEO, Tony Burdon, called on the 20 companies, representing over £175bn of assets under management, to join the campaign and commit to net-zero pensions, including halving emissions this decade. Burdon also noted that, since the group's launch in 2020,...

June 7, 2021
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May 2021
31May

Net-zero future confronts oil-rich nations

Ali Allawi, Iraq’s Finance Minister, found himself in a quandary last year as the spread of coronavirus cut demand for oil and prices tumbled. Allawi’s treasury, which receives more than 90 per cent of its revenues from crude sales and spends 45 per cent of its total budget on salaries and pensions, suddenly didn’t have enough money to pay millions of public employees and retirees. OPEC’s second-largest producer borrowed billions of dollars, mostly from local banks, to bridge the shortfall. But...

May 31, 2021
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28May

UK pension asset owners join Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance

Three UK pension asset owners have signed up to the UN-convened Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance. As reported by our sister publication, European Pensions, Phoenix Group, Legal & General (L&G) and Rothesay all joined alongside Germany’s largest pension fund under public law, Bayerische Versorgungskammer (BVK), and Asia- and Africa-focused insurance group, Prudential plc. The five new signatories have added a combined USD 900bn AUM to the alliance, meaning it now consists of 42 assets owners managing a combined USD 6.6trn of assets. By...

May 28, 2021
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27May

Canada’s top pension funds boost investments in high-carbon oil sands

Canada's biggest pension managers boosted their investments in the country's major oil sands companies in the first quarter of 2021, raising questions about the funds' recent commitments to greening their portfolios. Read also Pension-Fund Investment in Forestry The cumulative investment by the country's top five pension funds into the U.S.-listed shares of Canada's top four oil sands producers jumped to $2.4 billion in the first quarter of 2021, up 147% from a year ago, a Reuters analysis of U.S. 13-F filings...

May 27, 2021
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26May

How Far Could Pension Funds Drive Sustainable Investing?

Pension funds could be a formidable force in getting companies to embrace environmental, social, and governance (ESG) values such as combating climate change or advancing employment equity. Yet they must align those goals with their fiduciary duty of protecting the retirement funds of their members. In the U.S., they must also overcome challenges including gaps in ESG adoption metrics and ambiguity about government rules on such investing. Those were the key takeaways from a two-day conference organized by Wharton’s...

May 26, 2021
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26May

Bonos Verdes, una Nueva Forma de Inversión en El Mercado de Valores

Por Martha Elizabeth Guaigua Vizcaino, Mónica Patricia Mayorga Díaz, Jesahel Yanette Vildoso Villegas El presente trabajo se enfocó en los bonos verdes y su participación en el mercado de valores ecuatoriano, los objetivos fueron resaltar los beneficios al invertir con bonos verdes en el mercado de valores, analizar las desventajas que pueden presentarse al invertir en bonos verdes y establecer una estructura para la emisión de bonos verdes dentro del Ecuador. El enfoque fue el estudio explicativo, el tipo de...

May 26, 2021
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25May

Pension-Fund Investment in Forestry

By Clark S. Binkley, Fiona Stewart and Samantha Power A forestry investment can include land suitable for growing trees, the trees themselves, or both. The trees can be part of a natural forest or one that has been established artificially by seeding or planting. Natural forest management typically has lower operating costs than plantation forests, but also a lower growth rate. Plantation forests are typically, but not always monocultures. Forestry has long provided opportunities for institutional investors – but the scope...

May 25, 2021
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21May

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board eyes assets in shift to clean energy

The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) is hunting for investments in the world’s transition to renewable energy as it aspires to be a global leader in sustainability, the head of the company told Reuters on Thursday. “One of the keys here is investing in the transition with a view that for the world to transition to a zero carbon world, many of the existing conventional players are going to be leaders in the future,” John Graham, president and chief...

May 21, 2021
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17May

The transition of financial services to ESG and green finance

As we tackle one of the biggest global crises of our time, green and sustainable issues are becoming more critical than ever for business leaders in the financial services sector. Julian Wells, director and financial services & FinTech lead at Whitecap Consulting, shares some perspectives. Sustainability in business has tended to be primarily associated with long-term commercial performance issues such as with balance sheet strength, brand reputation, and enterprise value. Now, there is an additional movement gaining significant momentum and...

May 17, 2021
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