Eight superannuation funds have been identified as ‘responsible investment leaders’ by a leading organisation.
According to the latest benchmark report from the Responsible Investment Institute of Australasia (RIAA), responsible investment leaders were those which scored 15 out of 20 on the RIAA’s scorecard.
This included commitment to responsible investing, enhancing risk management through explicit and systematic consideration of environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors, being strong stewards for more resilient and sustainable assets and allocating capital to benefit shareholders.
Currently, around 27% (54 firms) of Australia’s investment managers were responsible investment leaders.
In the super space, the most responsible super funds were:
- Active Super
- Australian Ethical
- AustralianSuper;
- Aware Super;
- Christian Super;
- Future Super;
- Rest; and
- UniSuper.
The report highlighted there had been numerous actions in the super space to help responsible investments, which included:
- Intentions by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) to update the Prudential Practice Guide SPG 530 to assist super entities to formulate and implement investment strategies inclusive of ESG factors; and
- The McVeigh v REST case, settled out of court, which provided Australian investors with the minimum standards in terms of climate action and disclosures for a super fund.
