On the go: Fourteen pension schemes, which collectively manage nearly £270bn of assets, have committed to set net-zero targets to align their investment portfolios with a 1.5C pathway.
Co-ordinated by the Prince’s Accounting for Sustainability Project, the chairs of these schemes have signed the A4S Pension Fund Chair Net Zero Statement of Support, which stated that the signatories recognise the scale of the transition needed and the challenges climate change presents for governments, business and society.
Among the signatories are five schemes that are making their intention to set net-zero targets public for the first time — HSBC Bank Pension Trust (UK) Limited, Barclays UK Retirement Fund, Unilever UK Pension Fund, Tesco PLC Pension Scheme, and Pennon Group Pension Scheme.
The other signatories are the BT Pension Scheme, the Brunel Pension Partnership, the Health Employees Superannuation Trust Australia, the South Yorkshire Pensions Authority, the Environment Agency Pension Fund, the Merchant Navy Officers Pension Fund, the Atos UK 2019 Pensions Scheme, Nest, and the Scottish Widows Master Trust.
The signatories also acknowledge that their ability to uphold their fiduciary duty in providing long-term, risk-adjusted returns to their members is threatened by the impact of climate change, both now and in the future.
“Our responsibilities include driving capital towards positive outcomes, being a catalyst for innovation and opportunity, helping to finance the transition to a net-zero global economy, investing in resilience to protect against physical risks and restore nature, and leveraging our influence across the investment chain,” the statement read.
This article originally appeared on MandateWire.com
