Home > News > Newsmakers > UK Launches Institute to Help Investors Make Social Impact

NewsmakersJune 10, 2019

UK Launches Institute to Help Investors Make Social Impact

Nascent organization is still accepting applications for a chief executive.

The UK government will launch an independent organization in the fall that aims to accelerate the growth, and improve the effectiveness of, the UK impact investing market.

The Impact Investing Institute has the backing of the UK’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, the Department for International Development, and the City of London, and will be supported by private firms and foundations.

“More people than ever before want their savings and investments to make a real difference to people’s lives and the planet, while still generating a return,” Jeremy Wright, the UK’s Culture Secretary, said in a release. “We want to make it as simple as possible for investors to put money into the issues they care most about.”

The goal of the institute is to look for more effective ways to combine financial returns with a social purpose to help improve people’s lives. It will encourage savers to choose pensions and savings products that invest in the issues they care about, such as providing housing to homeless people, renewable energy, or businesses committed to providing sustainable employment.

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The initiative is being led by Harvey McGrath, chair of the UK National Advisory Board on Impact Investing, and Elizabeth Corley, chair of the Implementation Taskforce on Growing a Culture of Social Impact Investing in the UK. The two will spearhead the process to recruit a chief executive to lead the organization. The group said it will be accepting applications for the post until June 18.

The Institute will have four key objectives:

1: Strengthen the market infrastructure for impact investing

Encourage the development of the impact investing market and help build elements of a sustainable market infrastructure.
Accelerate specific investment opportunities, and address constraints to impact investment within mainstream business and the financial services sector.

2: Increase the amount of capital invested for impact

Mobilize increasing amounts of capital from a variety of sources, and with a range of expectations into investments that contribute to solutions to social challenges in the UK and in developing countries.

3: Improve the effectiveness of capital invested for impact

Promote increased transparency and comparability of impact investments made through UK markets so investors can make better informed choices.

4: Make it easier for individuals to invest for impact

Identify and propose ways to reduce barriers to individuals investing in social impact.
Raise awareness and knowledge across a broad range of stakeholders, and encourage and promote investment opportunities suitable for individual participation.

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Tags: ESG, Impact Investing Institute, UK

Home > News > Newsmakers > New York Comptroller Aims to Double Pension Plan’s ESG Funding

Newsmakers June 10, 2019

New York Comptroller Aims to Double Pension Plan’s ESG Funding

DiNapoli seeks to increase the state Common Retirement Fund’s sustainable investments to $20 billion.

By Chris Butera

New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli pledges to double the New York State Common Retirement Fund’s sustainable investments.

That will bring the pension program’s environmental, social, and governance (ESG)investments to $20 billion over the next decade.

To aid in that effort, he will next create a multi-asset climate solutions program, which will operate similarly to its emerging manager program. It will work with managers, consultants, and index providers on creating alignment with the fund’s sustainability goals.

The fund intends to better assess its exposure to climate-heavy risk sectors recommended by the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures. These include energy and utilities, transportation, materials and buildings, agriculture, food and forest products, and financials.

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Also, the fund will also create new evaluation tools, hire ESG-centric staff, and help managers, data and index providers, and consultants in meeting asset class-specific metrics and its own standards for companies in each high-risk sector, starting with thermal coal.

“The Fund has taken many steps to assess and address climate risk already, but clearly more must be done and done quickly,” he said. “This is a proactive plan to mitigate climate risk, capitalize on opportunities in the growing low-carbon economy and protect the fund’s long-term value.”

His new initiative allows the fund to divest from companies that fail to meet minimum standards set by the $210.2 billion pension plan. The strategy, which piggyback the Decarbonization Advisory Panel’s April findings, will now also seek to eliminate thermal coal and other sectors with climate-related issues where it has invested.

The panel was created by DiNaopli and Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

In addition, DiNapoli will establish a “watch list” of managers not hip to the fund’s ESG policy. New York Common will also develop eco-friendly strategies for businesses it is vested in that do not incorporate the best sustainability practices.

“The Panel delivered its ambitious recommendations in early April 2019, and in response, I directed staff to build on the Fund’s existing work by formulating this bold Climate Action Plan to put the CRF on the path to achieving a sustainable portfolio,” wrote DiNapoli in the strategy’s outline, which he said is the Common Retirement Fund’s “next level of climate-related assessment, investment, engagement and advocacy work.”

Tags: Climate Action Plan, Climate Change, ESG, New York State Common Retirement Fund (NYCRF), Pension, Thomas P. DiNapoli

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