Ahead of a European Council meeting next week, investor groups are gathering signatures for a statement calling for a robust and predictable EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) that provides regulatory stability and enables investors to mobilise long-term capital into the real economy transition.
Last week, European pension funds joined asset managers in calling on the European Parliament and EU member states to agree the legislation in the European Commission’s automotive package quickly, without further reducing ambition.
The ETS review and automotive package are two elements of a round of housekeeping in the EU that have been raising questions about the bloc’s commitment to decarbonising.
Meanwhile, a group of investors yesterday published a framework to help asset owners assess their asset managers’ shareholder engagement efforts. The ultimate goal is for the French group’s method – for the Valuation of Influence in Corporate Engagement (VOICE) – to become an international de facto standard for measuring, assessing and communicating engagement efforts.
Gustave Loriot-Boserup, the founder of a fintech providing stewardship monitoring to asset owners, said the VOICE framework was “the most rigorous attempt I’ve seen to bring structure to a practice that has long operated on trust, but also vague claims of impact and engagement washing”.
PME, the Dutch pension fund for the electronics and technology industry, recently presented analysis showing that the environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) filters that it applied to its equity index portfolio have generated excess returns since 2019, although its overall return slightly lagged the benchmark due to an underweight position in technology companies.
The finding contrasts with the experience of other Dutch pension funds using sustainable indices, including ABP and PFZW, which have not succeeded in outperforming their benchmarks through ESG policies.
Items to note:
- MEP Gerben-Jan Gerbrandy’s draft report on the revision of the EU’s flagship anti-greenwashing rules was presented to the European Parliament’s economic affairs committee on Friday, with a vote on its SFDR position currently expected on 15 July.
Susanna Rust
ESG Editor
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