4 November 2022
With COP27, the UN Climate Change Conference in Sharm El-Sheikh just days away, Wiltshire Pension Fund is providing an update on its path towards the goal of net zero investments by 2050, reducing carbon emissions and how it is meeting demands of its members.
Since September 2021, the Fund has progressed many of its climate related activities. The Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) report 2022 was improved by adding coverage of asset classes not previously included. Additional investment holding analysis of came from Mercer's (the Fund's Investment Consultant) Analytics for Climate Transition (ACT) report, which recalculated the Fund's carbon baseline to 2019 to align with the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC) and Brunel Pension Partnership, the Fund's LGPS pool.
The Investment team have also been working on other initiatives and projects which included:
- Engaging with asset managers on priority holdings from a climate perspective - a case study of this work, Net-Zero Engagement is presented of the Fund website.
- Investigating the potential to align asset classes other than listed equities to net zero - more detail can be found on Our decarbonisation progress so far webpage.
- Drafting a response to the currently open LGPS (England and Wales): Governance and reporting of climate change risks consultation - the Fund welcomes this and upcoming regulation but recognises challenges ahead in terms of data and communications, among many others.
It is important to stress that the approach being taken has enabled the Fund to reduce its carbon footprint without sacrificing any financial returns for its members and employers.
Head of Wiltshire Pension Fund, Jennifer Devine, said: "We have made great progress in responding to climate change over the last year. The triennial valuation, investment strategy review and inflation risk are major items on the Pension Fund Committee agenda. But as demonstrated by our scenario modelling results, stakeholder engagement and Committee discussion, climate change remains a high priority risk in safeguarding the Fund's investments. The Fund is continuing to work collaboratively with our partner funds and the Brunel pool, the IIGCC, and other LGPS stakeholders."
Further information on the pathway to net zero, the fund's responsible investment policy, climate strategy and plan can be found on the Climate pages.
Climate Strategy and Action Plan - One pager (PDF) [50KB] (opens new window)
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