Today is the deadline for pension trustees to include policies around ESG factors and stewardship in their Statement of Investment Principles (SIP.)  Claire Jones, Principal at LCP, commented: 

“1 October 2019 is a landmark day for responsible investment: it’s the day by which pension trustees need to have included policies on environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors and stewardship in their Statement of Investment Principles (SIP).” 

“However, this is certainly not the end of the story. Trustees now need to turn their attention – if they have not already done so – to implementing these policies.”

 “They can expect their responsible investment practices to be scrutinised given the increasing interest in this topic from regulators and pension scheme members. Indeed, defined contribution schemes have to report annually on how they’ve implemented their SIP from October 2020 and defined benefit schemes have to report annually on the implementation of their stewardship policies from October 2021.”

“Moreover, regulatory requirements are likely to increase in future: the UK Government’s Green Finance Strategy (launched in July 2019) announced an intention to match the ambition of the objectives of the EU’s Sustainable Finance Action Plan and warned that the Pensions Regulator would shortly consult on guidance about climate-related practices for pension schemes.”