On the go: The £711m Scottish Borders Council Pension Fund has become the first UK local authority pension fund to invest in Morgan Stanley Investment Management’s Global Sustain Strategy.
It is the latest allocation in a growing trend of Local Government Pension Scheme members leading the way on investments that take into account environmental, social and governance risks.
Launched in 2018, the Global Sustain Strategy is managed by MSIM’s international equities team and invests in companies that are carbon-light, tobacco-free, alcohol-free, and free of fossil fuels.
Councillor David Parker, chair of the Pension Fund Committee for Scottish Borders Council Pension Fund, said the fund "believes that a positive approach to ESG issues can positively affect the financial performance of investments, whereas a failure to address these considerations can have a detrimental effect. The fund is therefore pleased that an asset manager we have partnered with for seven years is now offering an investment strategy that fully integrates ESG principles while delivering on the long-term needs of our pension funds”.
William Lock, head of the MSIM international equity team, said there is “demand for high-quality ESG-integrated funds to meet clients’ investment requirements without any compromise to returns”, and called the ESG trend "compounding with a conscience".
