Agenda item

Tim Mpofu, Pension Fund Manager provided an update of the Pension Fund Quarterly Monitoring report. It was noted that, the Funds valuation was close to £1.1bn which suggested a good environment from an investment point of view.

In reference to the Fund’s Environment, Social & Governance (ESG) appendix, Tim Mpofu provided a summary of how the fund was performing in line with its Carbon friendly targets. This would be updated on a regular basis and included as part of the quarterly update pack going forward. Officers will also work closely with Fund managers to review the Social and Governance aspects and would feed back to the Pensions Fund Sub-Committee and Pensions Board.

He explained that the Fund’s investment in the MSCI Low Carbon index had 57% less CO2 output than the global benchmark. This analysis was carried out annually by the Pension Fund through a specialist firm. In addition, the Pension Fund’s Officers continued to engage with the Fund managers in the development of better carbon emissions metrics and reporting. The total carbon friendly investment value was £466m.

Councillor Rory Vaughan, referring to Appendix 1 of the agenda pack queried why there had been a significant decrease in the number of active members and an increase in deferred members in comparison to June 2019. In response Tim Mpofu explained that previous figures had not been refreshed. However considerable progress had been made by Officers to update the data which had been fed into triennial valuation.

The Chair noted that it would be interesting to see how this would develop over the next few months. Additionally, he said he was keen to understand what type of green bonds, firms were investing in. Tim Mpofu explained that this was an ongoing challenge faced by Officers. It was difficult to track what companies were investing in and this was largely dependent on the nature of the company and the fund manager.

RESOLVED:

THAT, the Pensions Board noted the contents of the report.