If you would like to become an Affliate member of Pensions for Purpose and help get capital to flow to impact investments then please join us as a member. You should join as an Affiliate if you are an asset owner, trustee, independent adviser, researcher, journalist or government body. It is free to join and you will have access to both public and exclusive Affiliate-only content. You will also have the ability to network with peers through our member forums and events. Please click here to complete the Affiliate form.
Full details of all our membership categories can be found here.
Adrian brings over 30 years’ professional experience in the industry, combining recent investment management and advisory experience with earlier consulting and corporate transaction experience. He is an independent investment adviser to Dyfed County Council and the Wohl Foundation, non-Executive director of a Blackrock investment Trust and Chair of Trustees for the ATS foundation (a charity supporting a London school).
Adrian became an independent adviser in 2019, following 13 years as a client facing portfolio manager/Managing Director on global equity and multi-asset portfolios (at AllianceBernstein and, most recently, JPMorgan), advising institutional clients on their investments. He has worked with over 20 UK LGPS schemes over this time, as well as large corporate pension schemes, providing both ongoing investment advice and trustee training.
He has worked with a number of institutional clients in tailoring portfolios to meet ethical and ESG goals, and helped set up a sustainable equity strategy. He has acted as a panel member for Pensions for Purpose and has worked with clients in defining their beliefs. He retains a strong interest in sustainable investment, particularly in understanding what can be achieved while satisfying Trustees’ other fiduciary constraints.
Adrian holds an MA from Cambridge University and MBA from INSEAD.
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Anthony is an FCA registered Adviser to Institutional Pension Funds. He has over 30 year’s professional experience as a Fixed Income Investor and Portfolio Manager.
In 1996 Anthony joined the Fixed Income team at Deutsche Morgan Grenfell, which as a result of takeover in 2005, became part of Aberdeen Asset Management. In this role he was responsible for investment strategy and tactical asset allocation for fixed income and multi-asset clients with benchmark driven and total return objectives. Anthony’s clients, included; LGPS and corporate, pension schemes; sovereign wealth funds; insurance companies and charitable foundations.
For the last 5 years of his time at Aberdeen Asset Management he was a member of the Consultative, and Chair of the Investment, Committee of the Group Pension Plan. Responsible for investment policy and monitoring performance.
Anthony is currently “Independent Investment Adviser” to Derbyshire and Surrey County Council Pension Funds.
He is interested in background research on impact investment.
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Brunel Pension Partnership (Brunel) brings together £28 billion investments of 10 likeminded Local Government Pensions Scheme funds. We believe in making long term sustainable investments supported by robust and transparent process. We are here to protect the interests of our clients and their members. In collaboration with all our stakeholders we are forging better futures by investing for a world worth living in.
As an affiliate of Pensions for Purpose, Brunel is actively able to participate in thought leadership discussions and enhance the general understanding of impact investment within our community and in the wider investment community. In addition, through discussion with other affiliates, including asset owners, government bodies, independent advisers and journalists, we are able to deepen our knowledge of this important topic for Brunel.
Brunel is one of eight national pooled funds, and will manage the investment of the pension assets for the funds of Avon, Buckinghamshire. Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Environment Agency, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Somerset, and Wiltshire Funds.
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Clwyd Pension Fund is a £2.3bn Local Government Pension Fund based in North Wales and a member of the Wales Pension Partnership. The Fund’s strategy is very diverse and has only 20% in listed equities but 27% in Private Markets including Timber and Farmland, Infrastructure, Impact and Local investments.
The Fund has been investing in Infrastructure since 2000 and dedicated renewable Funds since 2009. An analysis of the infrastructure portfolio has shown that 20% of the core portfolio is also invested in renewable projects.
The Fund started investing in “Impact” mandates in 2006 through a UK Regeneration Fund and Environmental Technology Funds and now has 20 investments within its 4% allocation to Impact / Local across Private Equity, Private Debt, Property and Infrastructure.
The Fund has also identified that many of its Private Market managers, whilst not classed as Impact, do map their investments against the Sustainable Development Goals.
The Clwyd Pension Fund Committee have recently agreed to adopt a 2050 Net Zero ambition for the Investment Strategy which will include a move to Global Active Sustainable Equities. We have also agreed, that in line with our ambition, we will look for investments in Impact and Sustainable Private Markets.
We are pleased to be an affiliate of Pensions for Purpose and continue our journey with likeminded Funds and Managers.
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Cushon is an online workplace pension and savings platform provider, offering the world’s first net zero now pension. So, our members are not only saving for the retirement they deserve but they’re also helping to tackle climate change. And it’s not just about the climate crisis. Through our market-leading mobile app, employees can have a say in the way the companies their pension and savings are invested in manage other ethical issues that are important to them. We’re getting employees connected and feeling proud that their money is a force for good in the here and now; it’s the key to getting younger employees engaged.
With our innovative mobile app in the palm of their hands, employees can access and manage their pension and other savings on the go. They can change contributions, transfer in other savings, change beneficiary nominations and so much more; the reems and reems of paper normally associated with pensions and savings are gone and employees are able to manage their finances just like they manage most other things – through a mobile app anywhere and anytime. We’re all about getting employees engaged and making sure they’re on track with their savings goals.
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David has 35+ years’ experience as an investor working for both institutions and a UHNW family office across a variety of asset classes. He co-founded Beagle Partners in 2004 a boutique asset manager for Global Emerging Markets and Disruptive Technologies. He now provides investment ideas and investment and business consultancy services.
David has a particular interest in frameworks that help execute responsible, sustainable and positive impact investment. In particular helping to link asset owner mandates to processes that align with the values and co-benefits they seek in terms of impact and sustainability. Both for long term financial returns but also to deliver the desired impact on Natural, Human and Societal capital a framework and clear articulation of the investment outcomes is called for.
ESG and sustainability have always been part of his investment and risk management approach as they are central to successful making long term investments. In the last decade or so the pressure on global resources and climate change issues has driven a secular shift in areas of potential long term sustainable growth. As a result he has been active in identifying emerging technologies that meet the challenges of climate change and confront unsustainable economic trends.
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We believe we generate stronger financial returns by investing in companies that contribute to the long-term sustainable success of the economy and society as a whole. This belief has been at the heart of how we have invested for nearly 20 years.
Since the inception of our private market impact fund in 2014, we have invested in companies around the world which deliver strong sustainable and financial outcomes. We have been encouraged by the increasing opportunities we see becoming available.
We have 38,500 members who share our commitment to sustainability. They want to see their pension fund act with ambition and urgency to tackle climate change.
We are an open defined benefit pension scheme serving the Environment Agency, Natural Resources Wales and Shared Services Connected Limited (SSCL). We have assets worth approximately £5 billion and are part of the Brunel Pension Partnership.
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Friends Provident Foundation is an independent charity that makes grants and uses its endowment towards a fair, resilient and sustainable economic system that serves society.
Our aspiration is that all our investments should generate both financial returns and positive social and environmental returns. We believe that our decisions on what to invest in, what not to invest in, how we exercise our stewardship responsibilities as a shareholder, and how we engage with asset managers and the financial system as a whole, should contribute to our charitable objectives.
As part of the integration of our investments with our mission, we currently allocate up to 10% of our endowment to impact investing. We are pleased to affiliate to Pensions for Purpose as an important collaborative initiative to share learning and increase understanding of the benefits of impact investment.
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HESTA is the largest superannuation fund dedicated to Australia’s health and community services sector.
HESTA now has over 870,000 members (more than 80% are women) and manages more than $52 billion in assets invested around the world.
HESTA is committed to creating a real difference to the financial future of every member. As a responsible steward of members’ retirement savings, HESTA focuses on achieving strong, sustainable, long-term returns while making a positive difference to the world members will retire into.
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I work with asset owners, financial professionals and campaigners to help them understand how the financial system intersects with society and the environment. The climate emergency is the most pressing issue for most organisations I deal with, however, I also have experience in other environmental issues and purely social investment. In addition I am an early stage environmental investor (member and shareholder in Green Angel Syndicate) and provide grant assessment services.
My background is in fund management having worked at various firms in the City, including the Henderson responsible investment team at the turn of the millennium. I moved to Bristol to take on a corporate finance role at Triodos where I was responsible for raising capital for social and environmental organisations. Most notably, I ran the first share issue for Cafedirect and the first bond issue for Mencap’s housing arm.
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London CIV (LCIV) is the Collective Investment Vehicle for London’s 32 borough councils and the City of London Pension Funds. As part of our fiduciary duty, we believe that Responsible Investment and Engagement is not just a moral imperative but an economic necessity.
We are committed to protecting the interests of our clients and members by acknowledging that climate-related risks and broader environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors are a source of financial risk.
We aim to make long-term sustainable investments supported by data-led and transparent processes. As an affiliate of Pensions for Purpose, we participate in thought leadership discussions to enhance and share our knowledge of impact investment.
LCIV’s vision is to be a best-in-class asset pool that delivers value for Londoners through responsible investment strategies. In collaboration with all our stakeholders we are building better futures by investing for a world worth living in.
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The LPFA is a defined-benefit LGPS with over 93,000 members, 123 active employers and, as at 31 March 2022, £7.6 billion of assets. Its assets are pooled via Local Pensions Partnership (LPP) together with those of the Lancashire County Pension Fund and the Royal County of Berkshire Pension Fund. LPFA and Lancashire County Council are also shareholders of the Local Pensions Partnership. LPFA is a Tier 1 signatory to the UK’s Stewardship Code, a signatory of the Climate Action 100+, a member of the LAPFF and is a participant in the C40 Cities Divest Invest Forum. The LPFA’s Investor Climate Action plan can be found here.
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Nick is a Resource & Environment investment actuary. Most recently he led the strategic advice for large EMEA institutions at Russell Investments and was their EMEA lead on Responsible Investing. He has since created Gordian Advice, a sustainable advisory boutique, focusing on integrating long-term environment, societal and governance (ESG) influences into investment strategies and portfolios.
Nick believes pension funds are a tipping point in defining their purpose. He sees that leading pension funds are not only reflecting on integrating ESG influences but are actively seeking opportunities that both generate returns and also deliver a positive impact for society. Those funds are reflecting on their purpose, the meaning of long-term investing and how they best understand their members’ preferences. They consider that all their beneficiaries have a vested and financial interest in the society they retire into. As a consequence, those leading funds are demanding more from their investments requiring them to generate both returns and impact. They typically find that such demands can be met with no material increase in risk nor loss of returns and that these approaches can even be risk/return enhancing.
Finally, Nick is a passionate believer on the importance of values & culture and an advocate for aligning the asset management industry with a broad societal purpose. He was Co-chair of Russell Investments’ EMEA Diversity & Inclusion committee and is an Ambassador for the Diversity Project.
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North Yorkshire Pension Fund is part of the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) with assets of around £4 billion. We have investments in equities (50%), bonds and cash (27.5%) and private markets including property (22.5%).
The Fund is a member of Border to Coast. There is a strongly aligned vision of responsible investment across all eleven members and Border to Coast itself. Consideration of ESG issues is embedded into investment processes across all of our managers and asset classes as we believe better run companies will produce better returns over the long-term. ESG issues represent long term financial risks to the Fund and we see climate change being one of the most significant of them.
All of the Fund’s managers have committed to a Net Zero 2050 or sooner target with challenging interim targets to reduce carbon emissions. The Fund is committed to global decarbonisation and believes this can be achieved through a robust approach to responsible investment, including engaging with companies to effect real world change.
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The Oxfordshire County Council Pension Fund is part of the Local Government Pension Scheme. We have more than £3bn in AUM and a membership of over 68,000 people from nearly 200 employers.
The Fund is committed to being a responsible investor and has recently become a signatory to the UK Stewardship Code. We see investing sustainably as fundamental to fulfilling our mission of delivering long term, sustainable benefits to our members.
We do not currently have a specific impact investing allocation, preferring to integrate this approach into our investments into various asset classes. We have recently increased our allocation into a global sustainable equities portfolio, which includes companies working on climate solutions, taking our overall portfolio investment to around £450m. Through our property investments we invest into an affordable housing fund and have allocated funds to a social and environmental impact fund. We also have significant exposure to renewable energy assets through our infrastructure investments, with the next infrastructure cycle set to have a minimum commitment of 70% to renewables. We are also exploring the potential to invest into an energy transition fund with a focus on assets in the local area.
We are very pleased to have joined Pensions with Purpose as a member and look forward to working with other members to help develop the approaches taken by pension funds to delivering positive impact through their investments.
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Railpen are trusted with the safekeeping and investment of around £34 billion in assets for 350,000 members of the railways pension schemes, one of the UK's largest and longest established pension funds. We support over 100 different employers with a mixture of open and closed DB sections, DC and hybrid arrangements, supported by the RPS Trustee.
The Trustee’s mission is to ‘pay members’ pensions securely, affordably and sustainably’. Railpen supports the Trustee in delivering this through our own purpose of ‘securing our members’ future’. We recognise that members and employers trust us with a significant responsibility, and that the decisions and actions we take affect members’ future lives and wellbeing. We recognise that our investments, notably in property and infrastructure, have a dual purpose; to invest responsibly on behalf of our members and to improve the wider world they will retire into. The complex and interconnected nature of ESG risks underline the importance of taking a holistic approach to investment stewardship, building from our own culture and philosophy to effectively tackle ESG issues at a system-wide level, at a company level, and asset level for our place-based investments in property and infrastructure.
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Shell Foundation (SF) is a UK-registered charity established by Shell in 2000 as an independent endowed foundation. Its work is focussed on empowering emerging market populations to earn a living income through clean energy access.
Part of its impact strategy is working as an ‘Impact LP’ – backing SDG-aligned investment strategies in emerging markets and leveraging its capital to de-risk institutional investor participation and co-create blended finance facilities.
To amplify its work, SF holds co-funding partnerships with the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office and MOUs with Nuveen/TIAA, British International Investment and US Development Finance Corporation.
SF has backed several fund managers over time – from boutique impact firms to large institutions – including M&G’s responsAbility and Natixis’ affiliate Mirova SunFunder.
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South Yorkshire Pensions Authority is a unique organisation within the Local Government Pension Scheme as the only democratically accountable single purpose pension administering authority, created in 1988 to act as steward of the £8.5bn South Yorkshire Pension Fund. The Fund has had a long and successful history of internal management and has long treated responsible investment issues seriously being a very early member of the Local Authority Pension Fund Forum. More recently the Authority has chosen to participate within the Border to Coast pool and transferred its internal investment team to the new Partnership.
The Authority believes strongly in using its financial muscle to “make stuff happen”, whether that be changing corporate behaviour through engagement, supporting the transition to a low carbon economy through investing in renewables, or achieving local impact through an allocation to local commercial property loan finance.
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Tyne and Wear Pension Fund is part of the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) with assets of around £12.5 billion. The Pensions Committee believes that ESG issues represent long term financial risks to the Fund and Climate Change is one of the most significant of these risks. The investment strategy includes approaches addressing these issues for both active and passively managed assets. The strategy includes material exposure to private equity, infrastructure, climate solutions and residential property.
The Fund has committed to a Net Zero 2050 or sooner target with challenging interim targets to reduce carbon emissions. In 2022 the Fund published its first TCFD Report including its carbon footprint alongside a Net Zero Roadmap. The Fund is committed to global decarbonisation and believes this can be achieved through consideration of climate related risks across all assets and through changing behaviours with collaborative engagement rather than blanket divestment.
The Fund is a founder member of Border to Coast Pension Partnership (BCPP) and has a strongly aligned vision of responsible investment. It works closely with all of its investment managers, including BCPP, to embed ESG factors in the investment process to achieve long term sustainable returns.
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The Wales Pension Partnership (WPP) is the pooling arrangement for the assets of the eight Welsh Local Government Pension Scheme funds (Constituent Authorities). The investment arrangements of WPP are overseen by a Joint Governance Committee (JGC) and supported by an Officer Working Group (OWG) and implemented through pooled funds managed by its 'Investment Managers'. The RI Sub-Group provides oversight and advice to the OWG and JGC on the development and implementation of the RI policy.
WPP recognises that responsible investment considerations pose financially material risks to the assets of Constituent Authorities held within WPP. Such considerations are relevant in relation to both the way the assets of Constituent Authorities are invested and in the exercise of stewardship responsibilities. WPP will have regard to the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015, the Local Government Pension Scheme (Management and Investment of Funds) Regulations 2016 and any relevant guidance provided by the Scheme Advisory Board (SAB), the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) and the Welsh Government.
WPP’s long-term ambition is to demonstrate leadership on RI practices in managing assets for and on behalf of the Constituent Authorities. WPP, in conjunction with the OWG & JGC, will update its annual business plan to ensure that sufficient time and resources are provided to implement the requirements of the RI policy. WPP recognises that the development of beliefs represents best practice for asset owners. In consultation with the Constituent Authorities, the WPP has developed and agreed the following responsible investment beliefs which serve to underpin its decision-making and governance processes.
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William has been working in the institutional asset markets for 35 years and in various, mainly non-executive, roles with pension funds since 2009. A thought leader within the financial industry, he has been quoted in numerous articles and papers, both media and academic, as well as in government responses to consultations.
He acts as independent adviser to Nottinghamshire and East Sussex Pension Funds, and as independent chair to Lancashire and LPFA Pension Boards. William has a Masters in Finance from the London Business School and is the Director of Linchpin Advisory Limited, providing independent advisory services to public and private sector institutions on investment and governance.
William is interested in how pension funds can put in place good decision-making processes so that impact investing achieves the right balance between financial returns and social benefits.
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Wiltshire Pension Fund is part of the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) with assets valued at £3.2bn. Its investment strategy includes a relatively large allocation to equities for long-term growth, and more diversified and less correlated asset classes such as bonds, property, infrastructure, multi-asset credit and private markets, to achieve stabilisation.
The Fund has an award-winning approach to Responsible Investment, implemented through its forward-looking Strategic Vision Goals and Responsible Investment policy. The Fund also became a signatory to the Stewardship Code 2020 in 2022 and actively engages with its asset managers, while not being afraid to hold them to account.
Commitments to Impact Affordable Housing were made in April 2022 and the Fund has begun the process of updating stakeholders on deployment and progress. This allocation will be followed by Renewable Infrastructure/Climate Solutions and reporting on impact as well as financial factors will be an area to develop over time.
Wiltshire Pension Fund is proud to be a member of Pensions for Purpose and part of a group of innovative and collaborative pension funds, advisors and asset managers, promoting a more holistic view on investment with social and environmental impact.
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Worcestershire Pension Fund has just under £3bn worth of investments and over 200 Employers. The Fund has been growing its mix of Property and Infrastructure investments since 2015 with a current target asset allocation of 15% which includes actual investment of around 7% in offshore wind farms and other forms of renewable energy. This is likely to increase further through our impending Strategic Asset Allocation review.
From an asset allocation point of view it appears to us preferable to think about impact strategies within the already well-established asset classes rather than as a standalone bucket and we will continue to seek out appropriate investment opportunities.
The Fund is a part-owner of LGPS Central, the ‘asset pool’ of which the Fund is a participating member. With the Fund’s support, LGPS Central has developed a leading approach to responsible investment and has identified climate change as one of its key stewardship themes.
The Fund believes strongly that working in collaboration and collectively with LGPS Central and Partner funds will increase the likelihood that it will be heard by the company, fund manager or other relevant stakeholder compared with acting alone and supports for instance the transition to a low carbon economy.
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