Hackney Council’s pension fund has set out a timeline to review further decarbonisation of its investments following a meeting of the council’s Pension Committee.
The review will see the pension fund move towards aligning with the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s higher confidence threshold for limiting global warming to 1.5C above pre-industrial revolution average, as well as the council’s own commitment to become carbon neutral by 2040.
Over the next year, the committee will consider how these commitments could be implemented.
Commenting, Chair of Hackney Council’s Pensions Committee and Cabinet Member for Finance, Councillor Robert Chapman said: “We’re already committed to some of the most robust and ambitious action of any council in the country to tackle the climate emergency.
“This review of our pension fund’s responsible investment policies will set out how we can go further to reduce exposure to fossil fuel risk, bringing it in line with the international 1.5C target to limit global warming, as a further step on our path to a fossil fuel free future.
“We will do this while protecting the pensions of council employees, including key workers like social care workers, waste operatives and parks staff.
“The review will also address how we can enhance our approach to other environmental social and governance issues affecting the fund’s investments.”
The committee has also agreed an implementation timetable for its refreshed investment strategy that will see the movement of funds out of UK equities and into more sustainable, low carbon global mandates offered by the London Collective Investment Vehicle (LCIV), which will help to ensure that the current target is achieved within the set timescales.
The LCIV is the pension fund investment pool for London and is owned by the 32 London boroughs and the City of London.
Hackney’s Pension Committee has already agreed to fund a five per cent allocation to the fund’s renewable infrastructure mandate, ensuring that the fund has a positive impact on the climate change agenda.
Further to these direct investment decisions, the committee will be reviewing its overall responsible investment policies in order to further address environmental, social and corporate governance issues, whilst ensuring it maintains its duty to protect pensions of employees.
