Engaging With ESG

Events

PPI events are only open to Supporting Members of the Institute

Engaging With ESG series

In 2018, The Pensions Policy Institute (PPI) published ‘ESG: past, present and future’, a report that explored the definition of ESG, its interpretation by those involved in making decisions about investment strategy, as well as the drivers of and barriers to greater engagement with ESG factors.

The report found there to be a lack of consensus regarding how to define and implement ESG considerations, as well as barriers related to the resources available to smaller schemes. However, the report also highlighted that awareness and understanding of ESG was growing, as was the availability of off the shelf products that can make ESG investment more accessible to smaller schemes.

Two years on, awareness and understanding has continued to grow, particularly driven by the increased regulations that have come into force since then. However, there is still some way to go before all schemes are engaging with ESG risk-factors in a meaningful way in order to ensure that their members are adequately protected against long-term risks.

Following on from PPI’s previous work on ESG, this series explores the approaches available to schemes and the opportunities and barriers they may face in choosing and implementing an approach, with the aim of identifying areas where there may be a role for increased support from government and industry to enable greater engagement with ESG considerations.

Engaging with ESG: Environmental, Social and Governance Factors

Launch Event (Thursday 22nd April 2021)

Following on from Engaging with ESG: Climate Change, this final report in the series 'Engaging with ESG: Environmental, Social and Governance Factors' delves deeper into the investment landscape for other environmental, social and governance risks.

Many of the practical steps needed to extend effective integration of these risks mirror those identified in the first report. However, there are also lessons to be learned from the steps already taken to develop the integration of climate change risks, as well as specific areas to develop in terms of social and governance risks.

The Environmental, Social and Governance report is kindly sponsored by Newton Investment Management.

Engaging with ESG: Climate Change

Launch Event (Thursday 18th February 2021)

Recent changes in regulation have strongly encouraged trustees and providers to become more informed about the financial implications of ESG risks. Risks associated with climate change in particular are receiving ever increasing focus, both in terms of policy and society more broadly. However, there are concerns that some schemes are still not necessarily taking a meaningful, long-term focused approach to these risks. While schemes will need to take direct action, a more joined-up approach across the industry will be needed to drive forward progress.

The second publication in the series, ‘Engaging with ESG: Climate Change’, delves deeper into the attitudes and behaviour affecting consideration of climate change in pension scheme investment.

To read the write up please click here.

The Climate Change report is kindly sponsored by Phonenix Group, Gold Supporting Members of the PPI.

Engaging with ESG: The story so far

Roundtable & Briefing Note Launch (Wednesday 2nd December 2020)

The first publication in the series, ‘Engaging with ESG: The story so far’, sets out the key regulatory and industry developments that have led to the current landscape of ESG investment among UK pension schemes. This Briefing Note establishes the background upon which the two subsequent reports in this series will build a deeper analysis of the current UK ESG landscape to identify where support and intervention may be most beneficial. During the roundtable, the Briefing Note was launched to discuss the main findings.

This entire series is kindly sponsored by: