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Newsmakers

NYS Common to Double Low-Emissions Index Exposure

DiNapoli to announce plan at Investors Summit on Climate Risk in NY

By Chris Butera

Today’s 2018 Investors Summit on Climate Risk will see the $201.3 billion New York State Common Retirement Fund‘s (NYS Common) announce its intent to increase the fund’s investment in a low-emissions equities index by $2 billion to reach $4 billion.

The move will be made public at the Summit in New York by state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, who oversees the fund’s investments. Designed by Goldman Sachs Asset Management, the low-carbon index shies away from exposure to fossil fuel and other pollutant companies while gravitating toward tech stocks and environmentally friendly companies.

“We’ve successfully shifted significant holdings to lower carbon companies without losing value,” DiNapoli said in a statement obtained by CIO. “Our state pension fund is at the forefront of the worldwide effort to build a lower carbon economy. Our investment decisions and our shareholder engagements are a caution to corporations: if they’re not helping build a decarbonized future, they may get left behind. Our strategy for sustainable, lower carbon investing is working and will continue to expand.”

“Managing climate risk is key to protecting positive long-term investment returns,” Vicki Fuller, the Fund’s CIO said. “The success of our low emissions index ensures its ability to expand further in the years to come and demonstrates to other institutional investors that we can decarbonize our portfolios prudently and without risking value.”

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According to the Wall Street Journal, the index has returned an estimated 19.93% from its January 2016 inception to January 26 of this year.

The proclamation comes days after the San Francisco Employees’ Retirement System’s board approved plans to create a “carbon constrained” passive index strategy to eliminate such companies from a section of its equities portfolio.

Across its portfolio, NYS Common has committed $7 billion to sustainable investing strategies. Most recently, Gov. Andrew Cuomo had announced a proposal that the fund end its future investments in fossil fuel companies, which is in-line with the Wednesday announcement.

DiNapoli’s office was unable to provide additional comment for CIO.

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Home > News > Newsmakers > Union to Strike over Pensions at 61 UK Universities
Newsmakers

Union to Strike over Pensions at 61 UK Universities

UCU plans four weeks of strikes after pension dispute talks end without a deal.

By Michael Katz

The UK’s University and College Union (UCU) said it will stage “an escalating wave of strikes” at 61 British universities after talks over a pension dispute between the union and the employers’ representative Universities UK (UUK) ended without an agreement.

“Staff who have delivered the international excellence universities boast of are understandably angry at efforts to slash their pensions,” said UCU general secretary Sally Hunt in a release. “They feel let down by vice-chancellors who seem to care more about defending their own pay and perks than the rights of their staff.”

The union, which represents more than 110,000 higher education employees, said the strikes will be held over a four-week period, beginning in late February with a five-day walkout. The strikes are scheduled to be held between Feb. 22 and March 16.

The dispute between the two sides is over UUK’s proposal to end the defined benefit element of the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) pension and replace it with a defined contribution retirement plan. UCU says this would leave employees with significantly less retirement savings than they would have under the current pension plan.

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UCU said that based on independent modeling of the USS’ pension change proposals, a typical university lecturer would lose £200,000 ($282,800) in retirement savings if the UUK plans were enacted.

In the recent strike ballot, UCU members overwhelmingly supported industrial action, according to UCU, with 88% of members who voted backing strike action, and 93% backing action short of a strike. The union said it hoped that the vote results would spur more vice-chancellors to publicly pressure UUK to agree to a deal.

The union said that two rounds of cuts in USS benefits since 2011 have already left USS members with pensions worth less than those of participants in the Teachers’ Pension Scheme.

“Strike action on this scale has not been seen before on UK campuses,” said Hunt, “but universities need to know the full scale of the disruption they will be hit with if they refuse to sort this mess out.”

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