Border to Coast, a £55bn (€63bn) pool of local government pension assets, is preparing to launch a green, social and sustainability bonds (GSS) fund.
As it does so, it is looking to hire a responsible investment manager to help shape and deliver its approach to verification and impact reporting for GSS bonds, and in future develop its approach to incorporating responsible investment across its fixed income investments.
The verification framework is intended to be for both labelled and unlabelled bonds, with GSS bonds also due to be included in Border to Coast’s net-zero plan.
In 2021, the local government pension scheme (LGPS) investment pool pledged to achieve net-zero financed emissions by 2050 or sooner, and it has so far set targets for the emissions linked to its listed equities and a proportion of its fixed income assets (not sovereign bonds).
As at the date of its net-zero implementation plan in 2022, this covered 60% of its overall assets under management.
Based in Leeds, Border to Coast is the asset pooling company for 11 local authority pension funds.
A GSS bond fund would be the pool’s 20th fund, and fourth in fixed income. Its most recently launched fund is a global multi-factor equity index fund, launched with support from five of its client funds.
A spokesperson for Border to Coast said the GSS bond fund was in an early design stage and wouldn’t be launching until next year.
The GSS bond market reached its highest level in three years in 2024, but issuance dropped significantly year-on-year in the first quarter of this year, according to ESG data provider MainStreet Partners.
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Susanna is ESG Editor at IPE, steering the publication's coverage of responsible investment news and analysis. She has a penchant for EU regulation, which also sees her covering EU pensions policy, and is a bit of a newshound so may drift into other areas, too.View full Profile
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