Billions of assets purchased by insurers to back UK retirement promises have the potential to drive corporate progress on issues such as climate change, and pension fund trustees are now indicating a willingness to pay extra for better stewardship.

Allocating capital to long-term illiquid assets requires a shift in focus from cost to value, according to panellists at the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association’s investment conference.

More than six in 10 FTSE 350 defined benefit scheme sponsors have reported a pensions accounting surplus as at the end of 2021, while the aggregate surplus has almost doubled in the past months.

ESG spotlight: A roundup of the latest news on environmental, social and governance initiatives, including investment in sustainable private credit by the £4.3bn Environment Agency Pension Fund, nearly three-quarters of schemes set to have net zero plans, and a pair of ESG guides issued for trustees.

On the go: The £57.5bn BT Pension Scheme, via Federated Hermes, has sold part of its stake in the engineering and technology business park Silverstone Park to the $550.4bn (£342.6bn) Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.

Leonard Bowman, head of corporate DB endgame strategy at Hymans Robertson, considers the implications of surging inflation on defined benefit schemes’ endgame strategies.

ESG spotlight: A roundup of the latest news on environmental, social and governance initiatives, including the London Borough of Lambeth Pension Fund planning investment in affordable housing, and the Border to Coast Pensions Partnership appointing an ESG data provider.

On the go: The £57.5bn BT Pension Scheme has awarded a $1bn (£801.4mn) private equity mandate to Hermes GPE, further building on two previous private equity investments with the manager.