February 2025

Hong Kong raises ESG disclosure standards for MPF managers

Hong Kong’s pension regulator said money managers would need to raise their disclosure standards on environment, social and governance (ESG) funds to help contributors understand their risk management and investment strategies The 12 participating fund managers, or trustees, including HSBC and Manulife, should improve the transparency levels on ESG-related reporting in their pension schemes, the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority (MPFA) said on Monday. The trustees must clearly state ESG strategies and focus on risk management in their brochures, as well...

Politics Before Pensions: How New ESG Rules Expose Public Pension System Vulnerabilities

By Danilo Risteski As some of the largest institutional investors in the United States, public pension funds wield considerable power over investment decisions. A recent trend highlights this extraordinary power: state pension funds have started exploiting their retirees’ pensions to force investment companies to invest in accordance with their respective states’ political priorities. Nowhere is this trend more obvious than in the environmental, social, and governance field. On one hand, states like Maine have passed legislation prohibiting public pension funds...

Asset owners ‘increasingly aware’ of risks of biodiversity loss, report says

Close to two-thirds of asset owners are now incorporating nature and biodiversity into their sustainability strategies whilst a further one-fifth intend to do so, according to a survey by Pensions for Purpose, the UK-based industry body. The report was based on interviews with 20 asset owners and managers across the UK, Europe, Asia-Pacific, North America and Latin America. These included the Bedfordshire Pension Fund, Cambridge Associates, PGGM, JANA Investment Advisers and the Wiltshire Pension Fund. Asset owners are “at a critical point in...

January 2025

Pensions investment outlook 2025: U.S. policy uncertainty clouds road ahead

By Investment Managers The coming year will likely be characterized by three main drivers: the U.S.’s politically driven polices, structural economic 1 The implicit yield curve based on the floating rates associated with an interest rate swap. weaknesses and political uncertainty in Europe, and China’s restructuring of its troubled property market. Overall, our forecasts suggest global growth looks set to continue its 2024 pace of 3.2% in 2025, before easing in 2026 to 2.9%. This outlook could be compounded by the implementation...

Trump’s DEI pushback targets universities, foundations and other institutional investors

The Trump administration’s pushback against diversity, equity and inclusion is now targeting universities, foundations and public companies — a new development in the movement to dismantle DEI. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Jan. 21 in which he calls for “Encouraging the Private Sector to End Illegal DEI Discrimination and Preferences.” That order mandates federal agencies determine which universities, foundations and corporations should be investigated for their DEI policies, among other things. Specifically, the order directs each agency to identify up...

The Role of ‘Green’ Investors in Reducing Corporate Carbon Emissions

By National Bureau of Economic Research The researchers categorize public pension funds based on the political affiliation of the leaders who control them. Those under Democratic control, either through governance or board trusteeship, were labeled “green.” Those under Republican control were labeled “non-green.” The researchers assume that Democrats generally favor carbon emission reductions more than Republicans. They study emissions data from 2010–21 for 5,241 facilities across 685 publicly traded companies, along with data on pension fund stock holdings for 24 of...

European investors upbeat on impact investing, despite US concerns

Over 90% of European investors polled in the run up to the 21 January of US president Donald Trump said they were extremely or somewhat concerned over the state of ESG and sustainability practices in the US, but they still intend to either maintain or increase their impact allocations, a survey by Pensions for Purpose shows. Pensions for Purpose, a UK-based industry body, says the results are significant because, although European and US investors often follow distinct paths on sustainability...

Sustainable Investing

By Lubos Pastor, Robert F. Stambaugh & Lucian A. Taylor We review the literature on sustainable investing, focusing on financial effects. First, we examine the effects of investor tastes on portfolio tilts and asset prices in a simple equilibrium setting. We establish novel connections, including a direct relation between the green portfolio tilt and the greenium. We also relate our framework to prior modeling of divestment. Finally, we review evidence related to the main concepts from our theoretical analysis, including the greenium, green...

Dimensión ambiental de las finanzas sostenibles en América Latina: lecciones para Bolivia

Por Luis Gonzales Carrasco Bolivia se ve desafiado por los temas globales y por sus necesidades locales. En este documento se busca aprender de las lecciones de la región en el tránsito de los últimos 12 años de finanzas sostenibles. Para ello se revisa la base de datos del Fondo Monetario Internacional sobre bonos verdes y se obtienen las lecciones de Chile, Brasil y México, que son los mayores emisores de bonos verdes en la región. Se identifican tres grupos...

Sustainable finance is braced for its toughest year yet

Before most investors had even returned to the office after the Christmas break last week, it became clear that sustainable finance is in for another rough year. On Thursday, Morgan Stanley became the latest big name to abandon the private sector’s main climate group, the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ). GFANZ, as it’s more commonly known, was set up to help its 700+ members work out how to develop the right targets, accounting metrics and investment strategies to achieve...