On the go: The £2bn Smart Pension Master Trust has announced its first green bond investment in the Mirova Global Green Bond Fund.
Following its announcement on a biodiversity partnership with Axa Investment Managers in October 2022, the master trust has announced that it will now bolster its portfolio’s sustainability by investing in green bonds through Mirova’s green bond fund, which invests in projects that search for “high environmental and social positive impact”.
Smart Pension chief investment officer Paul Bucksey said: “The pensions industry has a golden opportunity to drive faster decarbonisation, by investing in businesses that are serious about cutting their carbon emissions.”
He continued: “Over 70 per cent of our flagship growth fund has been invested in sustainable funds for a while now, and this investment coupled with other recent changes bring us to 100 per cent. We expect these investments will play a key role in achieving our 2040 net zero target.”
Smart Pension investment proposition manager Fiona Smith added: “Green bonds are an important addition to our growth fund because they directly fund environmental projects and have a tangible impact on the world around us.”
In October 2021, Smart Pension signed up to the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change and also committed to the Impact Investing Institute’s impact investing principles.
In addition, the master trust announced in June 2022 that its default growth fund will be net zero by 2040, and that it is on track to have cut its emissions by 50 per cent between 2019 and 2025.
This article originally appeared on MandateWire.com
