On the go: Climate campaigners have protested outside a local government pensions conference, specifically targeting one of the event’s headline sponsors, investment manager Federated Hermes.
On September 9, the UK Divest and the Fossil Free West Yorkshire Pension Fund campaigns held a demonstration outside the LGC Investment & Pensions Summit.
One of the event’s “premier sponsors” was Federated Hermes, an asset manager that advises some of the UK’s largest pension schemes. Its involvement with Local Government Pension Schemes has included the appointment of its stewardship team in 2018 by the Brunel Pension Partnership to advise on voting and engagement.
On Twitter, UK Divest accused the manager of funding “anti-climate action fossil fuel lobbyists”.
The groups cited an investigation by Documented and the New York Times, published in August, which alleged that Federated Hermes funds the State Financial Officers Foundation — which Documented described as “a co-ordinated effort by state officials to oppose climate policy”.
Federated Hermes is accused of funding SFOF meetings and having dined with West Virginia Treasurer Riley Moore. It is understood that Federated Hermes will not renew its sponsorship of SFOF next year.
“Moore’s attacks on climate finance policy and ESG clash with Federated Hermes’ outspoken support for climate-focused investing,” Documented reported.
In a statement on its website on August 18, Federated Hermes said: “We work with a range of clients who hold different views on ESG. Some embrace ESG integration and others do not. We engage with all, listening to their views and putting forward our capabilities to meet needs consistent with their convictions.”
Acknowledging its relationship with the SFOF, the manager continued: “Our participation does not serve as an endorsement of any organisation’s particular perspective on any issue.”
Federated Hermes declined to comment when contacted by Pensions Expert.
On September 2, Moore tweeted footage of an interview with US news network Just the News, during which he explained that new legislation would see financial institutions barred from bidding on West Virginia state contracts if they boycott fossil fuels, as well as terminating current contracts with the state.
“We are going to win against ESG!” he tweeted. Moore’s office has been contacted for comment.
“Federated Hermes gives SFOF money to support the fossil fuel industry that is killing our climate. They are not fit to advise our local government funds about ‘responsible investment’,” UK Divest campaigner Robert Noyes said.
The Fossil Free WYPF campaign’s Ali Sopher said: “We want to make sure that pension fund managers at the conference know about the total hypocrisy of Federated Hermes.”
The WYPF, meanwhile, told Pensions Expert that its transition towards net zero “will not happen through divestment, but through helping those companies in which we are currently invested adjust to the new realities of climate change”.
A spokesperson for the fund said that there is “no evidence that divestment leads to better corporate behaviour”.
“If we sell our shares, someone else has to buy, which means we have passed the buck to the next investor who may be less diligent than ourselves in scrutinising management behaviour,” they said.
