Wiltshire Pension Fund shortlisted for an award for our climate change strategy

We are proud to announce that we have been shortlisted for a prestigious LAPF Investment Award, for the "Best Climate Change Strategy"! 

The Local Authority Pension Forum LAPF Investments Awards were established in 2015 in order to celebrate outstanding achievement in the LGPS. Over the years, an award from LAPF Investments Awards has come to be recognised as mark of excellence in the field of pensions provision in the LGPS.  

At the 2021 awards, we were honoured to take home the award for "Best Approach to Responsible Investment", which recognised the way in which we embed responsible investment in everything we do. 

We believe that our approach to climate risk represents a "win/win" for our scheme members. When we surveyed our members in early 2021, 86% said it was important to them for the Fund to invest in sustainable and/or low carbon assets.  When it comes to climate risk, our goal is to protect the investments from climate change risk, and safeguard the financial future of the Fund. 

We never compromise on earning strong, risk-adjusted returns, and our goal to be net zero across all investment portfolios by 2050 is set with the Fund's best financial interest in mind.  We aim to deliver against our return objectives whilst also generating positive environmental and social impact, where possible, and minimising any negative impacts.

Our approach looks to manage climate risk across all asset classes, and also to identify exciting opportunities for investment.  We have invested in Paris-aligned passive equities, sustainable active equities, carbon neutral greenhouses in our secured income portfolio, and net zero homes for key workers in the UK affordable housing portfolio, to name just a few examples. 

Our Responsible Investment Policy 2022 (PDF) [4MB] (opens new window)  sets out our approach in full, showing our interim targets, and our approach to engaging with our investment managers on this topic.  We measure our decarbonisation progress against a 31 December 2019 baseline, and have seen a reduction of 19% in the carbon footprint over the first 2 years of monitoring.

Congratulations to the team for being shortlisted for this award, which recognises the excellent work done in this area to advance the Fund's approach!