19 May 2025, LONDON: Trustees across the UK pensions industry are being offered a refreshed, practical framework for aligning investment decisions with long-term impact and fiduciary duty, as the Impact Investing Institute, Pensions for Purpose and Global Impact Investing Network’s Impact Investing Principles for Pensions are relaunched today.
The refreshed Principles encourage pension schemes to set impact goals that reflect the needs and values of their beneficiaries – such as housing and services, climate change mitigation and community wellbeing.
The updated framework establishes accountability by linking impact priorities with incentives and clearer reporting, helping schemes move from intentions to outcomes. It encourages trustees to move beyond measuring intentions to also measure the tangible scale, pace and efficiency of the impact achieved. Crucially, the Principles empower trustees to move beyond conventional stewardship approaches such as voting and engagement to use their capital more strategically – to actively shape markets, influence policy and drive meaningful corporate behaviour.
Developed originally by the Impact Investing Institute alongside Pensions for Purpose in 2020, the May 2025 update also includes The Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN)’s significant contribution and endorsement.
These revisions reflect five years of market experience and legal changes, including rising expectations from pension savers and evolving regulatory demands. This strengthens the original 2020 version, making impact relevant for all pension schemes regardless of size, structure or starting point. It also equips trustees with the tools to better deliver for their members and to drive the structural changes in the market that would strengthen their ability to do so.
All UK pension schemes – defined benefit, defined contribution, trust- or contract-based – are invited to adopt the Impact Investing Principles for Pensions. A statement of commitment is available for those ready to embed them into governance and investment processes.
Charlotte O’Leary, CEO, Pensions for Purpose, said: “Impact is everywhere and in everything but the intention to have a positive impact on people and planet isn’t. Trustees are being shown how to intentionally deliver returns and responsibility, not choose between the two. These Principles are a public good, freely available to support trustees, by focusing on measurable actions – such as investing in affordable homes, clean water and energy – this is extending beyond meeting member expectations, to protecting their savings from the systemic risks already battering portfolios. This is fiduciary duty in a world defined by climate shocks and inequality.”
NOTES TO EDITORS
1. From 2020-2025 – what has changed in the Principles?
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2020 approach |
2025 update |
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Set impactful objectives in Statement of Investment Principles (SIPs) or policies, which can be explained to your members. |
Identify your impact priorities, tying them to the current and future needs of your members. |
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Hire aligned investment consultants and managers with impact integrity. |
Explore appropriate ways to integrate impact considerations aligned with your impact thesis across your mandates. Also explore ways to incentivise partners to help achieve your impact priorities through their investment strategies and stewardship activities. |
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Progress your impact objectives by formulating stewardship guidelines for your, or your investment manager’s, voting and engagement activities. |
Contribute to your intended impact, through capital deployment and engagement, ie stewardship, as well as actions that seek to influence the wider market. |
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Monitor progress against impact objectives through indicators and benchmarks. |
Measure, manage and report your impact, reviewing the validity of your impact thesis. To be measured against: scale (point in time), pace (change over time), efficiency (impact of capital invested). |
About Pensions for Purpose
Pensions for Purpose exists as a bridge between asset managers, pension funds and their professional advisers, to encourage the flow of capital towards impact investment. Our aim is to empower pension funds to seek positive impact opportunities and mitigate negative impact risks. We guide pension funds and other institutional investors on their journey through the spectrum of capital towards embracing impact investing as a philosophy. We have been growing our Community of over 465 organisational members and 1,550 individuals since 2017 bringing together stakeholders to promote understanding of ESG, sustainable and impact investment. The Impact Investing Principles sit within one of our curated Ecosystem Themes, Impact Integration.
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