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Since its green shoots first emerged around 50 years ago, acceptance of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) considerations in institutional investing-especially at pension funds-has evolved with distinct shifts in investor preferences. This Pension Research Council volume traces these shifts and their implications, leading up to the present day. The book notes that investors have diverse reasons for devoting attention to ESG criteria when deciding where to invest their money. Some had religious motives, such as Quakers who focused on values; this approach can offer some risk mitigation. Nevertheless, studies that look at whether divestment actually changes companies' behaviors show that this rarely occurs.
Accordingly, this book offers a variety of distinct viewpoints from a variety of countries, on whether, how, and when ESG criteria should, and should not, drive pension fund investments. The authors also find that policymakers should consider fund consolidation in private sector retirement systems, along with whether service-provider incentives could be better be aligned with sustainability incentives. For instance, boosting transparency in these markets would help generate better-informed policies, while providing beneficiaries with information relevant to their savings choices.
Edited by:
P. Brett Hammond (Research Leader Research Leader American Funds of the Capital Group),
Raimond Maurer (Professor of Investment,
Portfolio Management,
and Pension Finance,
Professor of Investment,
Portfolio Management,
and Pension Finance,
Goethe University Frankfurt),
Olivia S. Mitchell (,
The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania)
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions:
Height: 240mm,
Width: 155mm,
Spine: 20mm
Weight: 520g
ISBN: 9780192889195
ISBN 10: 0192889192
Series: Pension Research Council Series
Pages: 272
Publication Date: 13 April 2023
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
1: Brett Hammond, Raimond Maurer, and Olivia S. Mitchell: Sustainable Investment in Retirement Funds: Introduction Part I. Defining and Measuring Sustainable Objectives and Outcomes 2: Brett Hammond and Amy O'Brien: Pensions and ESG: An Institutional and Historical Perspective 3: Stéphanie Lachance and Judith Stroehle: The Origins of ESG in Pensions: Strategies and Outcomes 4: Linda-Eling Lee: What Does ESG Investing Really Mean? Implications for Investors of Separating Financial Materiality and Social Objectives Part II. The Evolution of Pension ESG Investing 5: Christopher Geczy and John Guerard: ESG and Expected Returns on Equities: The Case of Environmental Ratings 6: Zacharias Sautner and Laura Starks: ESG and Downside Risks: Implications for Pension Funds 7: Luba Nikulina: Global Pensions and ESG: Is There a Better Way? Part III. Impacts of ESG on Pension Governance, Investments, Structures, and Reporting 8: Rob Bauer and Paul M.A. Smeets: Eliciting Pension Beneficiaries' Sustainability Preferences: Why and How? 9: Nathan Fabian, Mikael Homanen, Nikolaj Pedersen, and Morgan Slebos: Private Retirement Systems and Sustainability: Insights from Australia, the UK, and the US 10: Anita Margrethe Halvorssen: How the Norwegian SWF Balances Ethics, ESG Risks, and Returns: Can this Approach Work for Other Institutional Investors?
Brett Hammond is a research leader at the American Funds of the Capital Group; he is also Executive Vice President of the Q Group and member of the Pension Research Council's Advisory Board. Previously he directed research teams at MSCI, and he served as chief investment strategist at TIAA-CREF while working on the creation of target-date funds, inflation-linked bonds, and individual financial advice. He also served on the senior management team at The National Academies, responsible for behavioral and social sciences studies; he also taught at The Wharton School. His research focuses on investing, institutional and individual asset allocation, pensions, higher education, and public policy. He received his bachelor's degree in economics and political science from the University of California at Santa Cruz, and a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is currently editor-in-chief of the peer-reviewed Journal of Retirement. Raimond Maurer is Professor of Investment, Portfolio Management, and Pension Finance at the Finance Department of the Goethe University Frankfurt. His research focuses on asset management, lifetime portfolio choice, real estate, and pension finance. Previously he was in residence at the Wharton School as Visiting Professor, and he serves as Advisory Board member of the Pension Research Council. His other professional activities include serving on the Union Real Estate Investment group, the Society of Actuaries, and the Association of Certified International Investment Analysts. He recently completed a Deanship at the Faculty of Economics and Business of the Goethe University, where he currently serves on the Faculty Senate. His habilitation and dissertation were awarded by Mannheim University, and he also was awarded an honorary doctorate from the State University of Finance and Economics of St. Petersburg. Olivia S. Mitchell is the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans Professor, and Professor of Insurance/Risk Management and Business Economics/Policy; Executive Director of the Pension Research Council; and Director of the Boettner Center on Pensions and Retirement Research; all at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Concurrently Dr. Mitchell serves as a Research Associate at the NBER; Independent Director on the Wells Fargo Fund Boards; Co-Investigator for the Health and Retirement Study at the University of Michigan; and Executive Board Member for the Michigan Retirement Research Center. She also serves on the Academic Advisory Council for the Consumer Finance Institute at the Philadelphia Federal Reserve; the Advisory Committee of the HEC Montreal Retirement and Savings Institute; and the UNSW Centre for Pensions and Superannuation. She earned her B.A. in Economics from Harvard University, and her M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Economics from the University of Wisconsin.
Reviews for Pension Funds and Sustainable Investment: Challenges and Opportunities
The book offers research with case studies from different countries and a range of perspectives. I recommend the book because it adds to our understanding of crucial current topics affecting business, investments, personal planning, and many societal issues. Advisors in particular need to take interest in this topic because of their clients' interests and needs and because it affects retirement investing. * Anna Rappaport, Retirement Management Journal *