Pension Funds Encourage Companies to Honor Voluntary UN Commitment

(February 16, 2010) – Thirty-six pension funds and investment advisers have urged dozens of publicly traded companies to fulfill their pledge to comply with reporting disclosures under the United Nations Global Compact.

“It’s more effective for them (investors) to work behind the scenes to pressure them (companies),” Gavin Power, deputy director of the compact, said to Pensions & Investments.

Investors are working on contacting the companies that signed the agreement, policing the compact. The investors are part of a group of 680 pension funds and other institutional investors that are signatories to the U.N.-supported Principles for Responsible Investment agreement, which encourages long-term sustainable investment returns and markets, according to a statement by the PRI organization.

The pension funds include the $117.7 billion Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, the $14.9 billion United Methodist Church General Board of Pension and Health Benefits, and the $37.6 billion Universities Superannuation Scheme.

Under the UN’s compact, launched in 2000, companies voluntarily signed on to annually reveal their progress in implementing goals on a set of environmental, labor, social and corporate governance principles, Pensions & Investments reported. If the signatories fail to honor their commitment by the end of the year, they risk being kicked out of the world’s largest voluntary  corporate sustainability initiative. In total, more than 720 publicly traded companies around the world are signatories of the compact and comply with reporting disclosures.