HESTA commits to stewardship code

HESTA has announced its commitment to Australian-first stewardship codes for local asset owners and, as Australian first duper fund, has become an endorser of the International Corporate Governance Network’s (ICGN) Global Stewardship Principles that provides a framework for investors to implement their fiduciary duties to beneficiaries.

According to HESTA’s chief executive, Debby Blakey, a commitment to these initiatives would help encourage the adoption of stewardship principles which would benefit long-term responsible investors.

She also said that they represented a positive step towards increasing transparency around the stewardship activities of Australian asset owners and would help members better understand how their super funds were integrating environmental, social and government (ESG) considerations.

“We have a long history of incorporating the principals of good stewardship into the ownership and governance of investments. We believe this not only protects and enhances long-term investment value for our members, but promotes sustainable value creation in the companies we invest in on their behalf,” she said.

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ICGN Global stewardship aimed to provide guidance for investors on implementation standards of internal governance and how to complement national or regional stewardship standards.

The principles also assist investors in how to ensure an approach to active ownership activities, the monitoring of investments, integration of environmental, social and governance (ESG) into investment decision-making as well as they provided standards for transparency, disclosure and reporting.