ESG

Geoff Summerhayes, former APRA executive, concedes that while the short-term nature of the Your Future Your Super (YFYS) test is a “challenge” for ESG investment, climate change is a mega-trend that demands more attention. One of the main frustrations around the YFYS performance test has been that climate change does not occur on a regimented…

With complaints about its efficacy still reverberating through the super industry, the YFYS performance test is to be extended next year to cover certain member investment options. Sustainability will be a big loser. Having delivered its first-year test results last month (August 31), the Treasury-instigated APRA-implemented test for big super funds found that the MySuper…

A new network of investment professionals has backed the ESG integration trend among both asset owners and fund managers with a report which draws on the views of leading investors including the Future Fund and NZ Super. Titled ‘Alpha with Impact’, the report was published last Friday (August 27) to coincide with the first member…

The term ‘big data’ has not resonated with investors in the way that the term ‘artificial intelligence’ has. Marrying the two helps. Now applying them to the ESG trend helps a lot more. Andy Moniz, a quantitative fund manager with a pedigree in data science, says he never much liked the term ‘big data’. The…

The sixth report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has lit a fire under fund managers – literally. The problem is figuring out what they can do about it. “In order to get to any kind of stable climate outcome, we need to reduce emissions, and we haven’t done that yet,” says Pablo…

Rachel Halpern has gone from corporate cop to an adviser to some of the largest super funds in the country, and brings a “forensic approach” to the risks of Australia’s sustainability boom. “The direction that investors are going in is systems level thinking,” says Rachel Halpern, JANA’s newly appointed head of sustainability. “Methods to ensure…

The flow of money into ‘dedicated sustainable investing’ will accelerate over the next four years, with global assets hitting US$13 trillion (A$17.8 trillion) by 2050. But there are steep hurdles for fund managers hoping to take part. According to a study by Casey Quirk, a US-based Deloitte business, the four-fold predicted increase from the US$2.8…

Groundhog Day, markets down, unemployment falls, ARB’s run continues The ASX 200 (ASX: XJO) weakened another 0.3% today as Victoria plunged into its fifth lockdown and the outbreak continued to extend in NSW. Just two sectors finished higher, materials up 1.4% and utilities, 0.7%, with the latter benefitting from another 6.3% jump in Spark Infrastructure Group (ASX: SKI). The…

Fund managers are increasingly speaking with one voice on issues around climate change, with at least 143 global firms so far joining the ‘Net Zero Asset Managers’ initiative. Several big ones signed up last week. The Australian signatory managers and international firms with strong Australian commitments are, by accident or design, implying increased pressure on…

The rapid adoption of ESG strategies, particularly in the wholesale market segment, should prompt a rethink of portfolio construction, according to Janus Henderson Investors. Adding ESG to the mix can cause unexpected tilts. In a global media webinar series last month (June 23-24), Adam Hetts, the manager’s US-based global head of portfolio construction and strategy,…