March 2023
21Mar

US. Biden uses first veto to defend rule on ESG investing

U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday rejected a Republican proposal to prevent pension fund managers from basing investment decisions on factors like climate change, in the first veto of his presidency. "I just signed this veto because the legislation passed by the Congress would put at risk the retirement savings of individuals across the country," Biden said in a video posted on Twitter. The bill cleared Congress on March 1, when the Senate voted 50-46 to adopt a measure to overturn...

March 21, 2023
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21Mar

European pensions increase ESG pressure on Asia property funds

Adoption of a real estate benchmark in Asia is increasing as leading European pension funds place reporting at the heart of their emissions reduction efforts. Pressure from investors outside Asia is increasing the quality and range of ESG data reported by Asian property funds, according to the leading global ESG benchmark for real estate. “There is increased pressure from asset owners who require their managers to participate in the annual benchmark, although this pressure mostly comes from non-Asian asset owners,”...

March 21, 2023
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17Mar

Pension Funds and Sustainable Investment: Challenges and Opportunities

By P. Brett Hammond, Raimond Maurer, and Olivia S. Mitchell Pension Funds and Sustainable Investment: Challenges and Opportunities responds to rising global interest in environmental, social, governance (ESG), and impact investing to generate positive impact while generating financial return. Contributors explore the pros and cons of pension ESG investments and discuss case studies from the US and around the world. The findings will interest researchers, management/advisory firms, financial advisors, asset owners, and policymakers Read book here

March 17, 2023
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17Mar

Politicians Make Poor Asset Managers

Not that long ago, state legislators of various stripes told their state pension systems they must immediately divest of any portfolio investments tied to companies doing business in South Africa. The apartheid debate was front and center for nearly every public pension fund in the country. Several funds went along with the political demands, but most did not. Pension officials took the view that bowing to divestment demands would be a complete surrender of their independent, fiduciary responsibilities owed...

March 17, 2023
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15Mar

Sweden’s New $90 Billion Pension Plan: Non-ESG Funds Not Welcome

Sweden has announced a plan to promote Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) oriented companies through the targeted investment of its pension fund. One trillion Krona (90 billion USD) of pension savings will be allocated for investment into firms that abide by ESG standards. This plan is the most recent of a series of initiatives put in place by the Swedish pension system to contribute towards the fight against climate change, human rights and other pressing issues. The wave of societal contributions...

March 15, 2023
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13Mar

ESG, stable returns moving pension plans to real assets

Investing in agricultural land and agricultural activities is another area serving as a diversifier for DB plans in part due to heightened prices for grain and protein products, which in turn has boosted farm income to unprecedented levels, according to Mayssa Al Midani and Alex Howson, managers of the Pictet nutrition strategy, which invests in sustainable food production. The fund has $2.5 billion in assets under management. Though the returns are closely tied to the commodity cycle, the value of...

March 13, 2023
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10Mar

I chair the investment committee of America’s second-largest pension fund. Here’s why savvy investors back the SEC’s proposed ESG disclosure rules

As the nation deals with floods, fires, and other extreme weather events fueled by climate change, it may come as a surprise that relatively little is known about one of the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions: publicly held companies. That is because there are no federal rules requiring these major drivers of the nation’s economy to disclose critical information about the impact of climate on their businesses. With more than half of U.S. households invested in the stock market,...

March 10, 2023
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09Mar

México. Afores cuentan con mecanismos para evitar greenwashing: Amafore

Las inversiones de las administradoras de fondos para el retiro (afores) están virando hacia los criterios Ambientales, Sociales y de Gobernanza (ASG) y con ello también se debe de cuidar meticulosamente que no inviertan el dinero de los trabajadores en esquemas de greenwashing. El greenwashing es cuando empresas o gobiernos promueven una imagen de conciencia ecológica, pero en realidad no hacen nada por cumplir lo que proponen. Álvaro Meléndez, vicepresidente técnico de la Asociación Mexicana de Afores (Amafore), comentó a este...

March 9, 2023
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08Mar

South Korea pension fund to consider climate change in management work

South Korea's national pension fund will consider climate change as part of its stewardship activities going forward, the welfare ministry said on Tuesday. A panel that oversees the National Pension Service's (NPS) fund management policies decided to add climate change, along with industrial accidents, to its list of focus areas for responsible investment activities, the ministry said in a statement. Until now, the world's third-largest public pension fund engaged with companies focusing primarily on matters related to corporate governance, such as...

March 8, 2023
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03Mar

The Liability Trap: Why the ALEC Anti-ESG Bills Create a Legal Quagmire for Fiduciaries Connected with Public Pensions

By David J. Berger, David H. Webber & Beth Young Two proposed bills barring public pensions from considering environmental, social, and governance investment criteria create massive legal risk for any pension fiduciary or service provider. The American Legislative Exchange Council “boycott bill” and the “fiduciary duty” bill, if adopted, would impose irreconcilable legal requirements on such fiduciaries, and subject them to compliance with arbitrary and unworkable legal demands. The main legal problems the bills create fall into four categories: (1) the unworkable...

March 3, 2023
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