A survey by FairPensions stated that despite industry-wide concerns about investor accountability, a number of schemes were falling short of their responsible investment benchmarks, including Marks & Spencer.
The report said: “There are a number of pension funds which, given their sponsoring companies’ public profile on corporate social responsibility, could be expected to have pension schemes that are responsible investment leaders, but in practice appear to fall short of expectations.
“This group includes the Aviva Staff Pension Scheme, Marks & Spencer Group Defined Benefit Scheme and the Co-operative Group Pension Scheme.”
It noted: “There is a discernable correlation between pension schemes that are more transparent and those with well-defined policy and practice for managing environmental, social and governance (ESG)-related risks and opportunities.”
A Marks & Spencer spokesperson said the company was surprised by the FairPensions report’s implication that it fell short on ESG requirements.
“The M&S trustees are focused on this and have provided a clear brief to our equity fund managers to factor ESG issues into their investment decisions. Our equity fund managers report on this on a quarterly basis,” they said.
“With that in mind, we feel the FairPensions report is misleading, with a flawed methodology for assessing the true value of pension schemes in the ESG area. It majors on scoring companies on time-consuming and expensive disclosure of their activities, rather than crediting companies for their good efforts to provide pensionholders with funds specifically chosen with ESG issues in mind.”
The two schemes that scored a maximum of 20 for their responsible investing credentials were the Universities Superannuation Scheme and the BT Pension Scheme. Strathclyde was placed third with 17.5, with Merseyside close behind on 16.5.
