In October 2021, the Department for Work and Pensions launched their consultation “Climate and investment reporting: setting expectations and empowering savers.” Targeted towards pension scheme trustees, managers, members and beneficiaries, the consultation proposed amendments to the Occupational Pension Schemes (Climate Change Governance Reporting) Regulations 2021, focusing on Paris alignment reporting. It also sought responses on best practice in relation to the Statement of Investment Principles and feedback on draft guidance on the Implementation Statement.
We welcome this timely consultation which introduces important and valuable new ways for pension schemes to invest lawfully, responsibly and with impact. We believe, however, that further steps can be taken by the Department to remove existing barriers to impact investing and ensure that the transition to Net Zero benefits the communities most affected by it. To this end, we have made recommendations centring on four key areas:
- Fiduciary duty
- Universal ownership
- The Just Transition
- Stewardship, voting and engagement
You can read our full response below.