.png?width=200&name=CH%20Diligence%20(thicker%20line-white).png "CH Diligence (thicker line-white)")
Established in 1931, the Colorado Public Employees’ Retirement Association (‘PERA’) provides retirement and other benefits to employees of the state’s government agencies and public entities. As at December 31, 2019, PERA had $US 52 billion of assets under management.
As part of its responsible investment approach, PERA integrates material environmental factors when evaluating investments in public securities or through due diligence when evaluating asset managers. With regards to Active Ownership, PERA has adopted a policy for voting proxies pertaining to disclosure of sustainability metrics. Moreover, the firm is involved with the Council of Institutional Investors (CII) and the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board’s (SASB) Standards Advisory Group to help develop responsible investment practices within the industry.
2020 Investment Stewardship Report
PERE: With decarbonization no longer optional for the industry, technology can also help owners to obtain better performance data and cut operating costs. [Full article available to PERE subscribers.]
Pensions & Investments: ESG-related ratings actions accounted for three-quarters of actions on international public finance entities and a third of U.S. public finance actions, according to a report released Tuesday by S&P Global Ratings. [Full article available to Pensions & Investments subscribers.]
IPE: CFA Institute is looking forward to the next steps on its proposed ESG disclosure standard for investment products following strong support of the organisation’s thinking on critical points, according to its lead on the project has said.
Bloomberg: Asia will need all the help it can get next year from more financing for environmental, social and governance projects, after recently setting some of the world’s most ambitious goals to end carbon emissions. [Full article available to Bloomberg subscribers.]
Bloomberg: For all the talk about ESG, the U.S. is a real laggard. With many U.S. money managers still struggling with the trade-off between generating returns and taking environmental, social and governance factors seriously, European firms have built a seemingly unassailable lead in the booming $40 trillion sustainable finance industry. [Full article available to Bloomberg subscribers.]
Bloomberg: For all the talk about ESG, the U.S. is a real laggard. With many U.S. money managers still struggling with the trade-off between generating returns and taking environmental, social and governance factors seriously, European firms have built a seemingly unassailable lead in the booming $40 trillion sustainable finance industry. [Full article available to Bloomberg subscribers.]
IPE: The manager of Norway’s giant sovereign wealth fund has given its backing to the IFRS’ idea of creating a Sustainability Standards Board (SSB) alongside the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) it oversees – but only for financially-material information.
The Asset: While environmental, social, and governance (ESG) scores are valuable insights into an investment portfolio’s level of sustainability, the investors, asset managers and index providers who use them have to be careful about relying solely on these data.
The Asset: EU to drive surge with new regulations and issuances, says NN Investment Partners.
Established in 2005, the Washington State Investment Board (‘WSIB’) is responsible for the state’s retirement plan and other public trust funds. As at September 30, 2020, they had USD 152.6 billion of assets under management.
As part of its responsible approach, WSIB integrates environmental, social and governance considerations in its investment decisions and evaluations of investment managers and partners. With regards to Active Ownership, WSIB supports proposals on shareholder rights, board diversity and climate change. Additionally, WSIB engages with portfolio companies on ESG issues through collaborative initiatives, such as the Thirty Percent Coalition and Climate Action 100+.
BNN Bloomberg: In the past week, Macquarie Asset Management, the New York State Common Retirement Fund and a group of 30 fund management companies have come out with statements saying they’re serious about getting the world to net-zero emissions.
Bloomberg: Sales of sustainable and project bonds in Canada are expected to take off next year after companies issued a record amount of corporate debt in 2020 to bolster cash reserves and push out maturities. [Full article available to Bloomberg subscribers.]
Funds Europe: Two of the world’s largest fund managers have been accused of undermining their public statements in support of racial justice by allegedly voting against shareholder efforts for racial equity.
The Asset: As large asset owners in Asia-Pacific markets implement environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors into their investment processes, their expectations of asset managers to go deeper in their ESG implementation practices are also growing, according to a new report.
BNN Bloomberg: Swedish social media lit up last month when a well known Black hedge-fund manager vented about discrimination, questioning the country’s prized egalitarian credentials.
IPE: Sweden’s big four national pension buffer funds have laid out their expectations of global technology companies regarding human rights, and warned that increasing worries about these issues are eating away at confidence in the firms, which carries major investment risks.
Reuters: The U.S. Federal Reserve said on Tuesday it has joined an international group of central banks focused on climate change risk, a signal that the Fed could move to incorporate the impacts of global warming into its regulatory writ.
Funds Europe: Asset owners in Europe are increasingly demanding for proof that asset managers have sustainability embedded into their firm culture, according to a report by Cerulli Associates.
Pensions & Investments: Institutional investors and others are using new tactics to push oil and gas companies to get serious about climate change. [Full article available to Pensions & Investments subscribers.]
Established in 1991, QIC Limited (“QIC”) is responsible for serving the long-term investment responsibilities of the Queensland Government. As at June 30, 2020, they had USD 54 billion of assets under management.
As a UN PRI signatory, QIC integrates environmental, social and governance considerations into its investment decision-making processes. Additionally, the firm applies negative screening criteria on controversial weapons and tobacco manufacturers. With regards to Climate Change, QIC engages with externally appointed investment managers to report in line with the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures’ recommendations. Moreover, QIC takes part in collaborative initiatives such as the Investor Group on Climate Change and CDP.
IPE: An initiative specifically focussed on asset managers getting to net-zero has been launched with 30 founding signatories drawn from across the world.
Institutional Investor: Sixteen consulting firms shared diversity data with the Diverse Asset Managers Initiative.
Yahoo! Finance: BlackRock Inc., the world’s largest asset manager, plans to next year push companies for greater ethnic and gender diversity for their boards and workforces, and says it will vote against directors who fail to act.
Investment News: The fund also said it may divest from the riskiest oil and gas companies by 2025.
BNN Bloomberg: Almost five years after countries signed the landmark Paris Agreement on climate change, financial institutions are still providing billions of dollars to companies extracting and burning the earth’s most-polluting resources.
Yahoo! Finance: Global events such as the pandemic, economic uncertainties, and social and racial injustice are sparking companies around the world to maintain or accelerate changes to their environmental, social and governance (ESG) priorities, according to a new survey of boards of directors by Willis Towers Watson (NASDAQ: WLTW), a leading global advisory, broking and solutions company.
Yahoo! Finance: The number of major companies who’ve disclosed their environmental impact and aggressively committed to reducing it has increased 46% from last year, according to a new analysis by a leading environmental-disclosure platform.
Reuters: With money pouring in to assets linked to sustainable investing, exchange operators have increased their focus on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) business opportunities, which could get a boost from the policies of President-elect Joe Biden.
Reuters: Nearly 50 buyout firms and investors have signed a global initiative that aims to improve diversity and inclusion among their ranks, a U.S. private equity investor association said on Monday.
Established in 1997, the Government Pension Fund of Thailand ("GPF") is a mandatory defined-contribution pension fund managing retirement incomes for Thai government officials. As at December 31, 2019, they had USD 31.8 billion of assets under management.
As a UN PRI signatory, GPF integrates environmental, social and governance issues into its investment research and decision-making. Additionally, the firm applies negative screening criteria on controversial weapons, gambling, sex and pornography. Moreover, as part of its commitment to be a "leader in ESG investing and initiatives in Thailand", GPF has initiated and led the development of the Negative List Guidelines of Thailand and made publicly available its GPF-ESG Weights and Scores: Asset Valuation Methodology© in collaboration with the World Bank Group.
GPF-ESG Weights and Scores: Asset Valuation Methodology©
BNN Bloomberg: Shareholders of India’s largest bank are raising concerns about a proposed loan to Adani Enterprises Ltd. to help fund the opening of the controversial Carmichael coal mine in northern Australia.
Financial Times: One of the US’s most senior financial regulators has admitted the asset management industry is “not doing a good job” at making improvements in diversity and inclusion. [Full article available to Financial Times subscribers.]
Citywire Selector: Growing engagement between investors and companies in the A-share market appears to have resulted in improved disclosure, according to a study by Fidelity.
BNN Bloomberg: The world’s largest sustainable-investing group will require its thousands of money managers to disclose whether and how they engage with government officials and other policymakers to see if such lobbying efforts are in line with environmental and societal goals.
Bloomberg: A Dutch sustainability expert wants financial giants to apply the lessons of ESG to plants, animals and ecosystems. Some are starting to listen. [Full article available to Bloomberg subscribers.]
Pensions & Investments: More than twice as many shareholder ESG resolutions would have passed the 50% support threshold if the three largest U.S. asset managers had backed them this past proxy season, according to a report from responsible investing organization ShareAction released Tuesday. [Full article available to Pensions & Investments subscribers.]
BNN Bloomberg: Companies with greater gender diversity in their boardrooms show better performance on developing policies and methods to address climate change risks, according to BloombergNEF.
BNN Bloomberg: The world’s two biggest money managers gave their support to less than a sixth of shareholder climate and social resolutions, despite commitments to do more to combat the effects of climate change.
Financial Times: World’s second-largest economy has the worst ESG ratings of any major market. [Full article available to Financial Times subscribers.]
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