This was a Paris Alignment online morning coffee with Baillie Gifford on 'Climate benchmarks - are they appropriate for an active mandate?'

The session began with Karen Shackleton of Pensions for Purpose summarising research undertaken by Pensions for Purpose on the different types of climate indices used by asset managers and when pension funds might consider using different benchmarks. She shared some of the key insights from this research, including the finding that only two equity managers benchmark their portfolios against climate indices when reporting on carbon metrics. One of these active managers was Baillie Gifford.

In a fireside chat with Tim Gooding of Baillie Gifford, Karen then asked why Baillie Gifford decided to shift to a climate index. They discussed how active managers can be a part of the acceleration towards a net zero future by adopting a thoughtful approach to managing assets against such benchmarks.

This was followed by a roundtable discussion with Q&A and shared insights, moderated by Karen.   

To see Karen's slides, please click on the button below.

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