Core conclusion
On April 21, the general office of the State Council issued the opinions on promoting the development of individual pensions. The improvement of China's pension system will also have a certain impact on the development of the capital market. For example, the characteristics of long-term investment of overseas pension funds and the attribute of social responsibility are highly consistent with the concept of ESG. With the establishment of the framework of individual pension system, pension funds are expected to play a more important role in the field of ESG. This paper selects four large overseas pension funds, deeply analyzes their ESG investment application, and summarizes the reference experience of pension ESG investment in China.
(1) Japanese government pension investment fund (GPIF)
It is required to integrate all the assets under the management of the global ESG fund, which is about $1.7 trillion, into the largest asset management process of the global ESG fund. The most distinctive method of GPIF is to invest in ESG index. Since 2017, GPIF has announced four times to increase its investment in ESG indexes, including FTSE Russell, MSCI, S & P Global S & P and Morningstar's eight ESG indexes, with an investment of more than 11 trillion yen.
(2) Canada Pension Plan (CPP)
There are two highlights of cppib's ESG practice. First, direct investment in renewable energy, including wind power stations and Cecep Solar Energy Co.Ltd(000591) projects. As of fy2021, the scale of such investment reached $7.67 billion. Second, CPP is the first pension fund in the world to issue green bonds, and clearly stipulates the purpose of the raised funds. Green bonds have been issued seven times since 2018, with a total outstanding amount of more than $4.5 billion.
(3) Norwegian government pension fund (GPF)
Norwegian pension fund is composed of gpfg and GPFN, of which gpfg is the main part, and the asset scale accounts for 97.4%. The Norwegian Ministry of finance requires gpfg fund to have special environmental investment. When selecting listed companies, gpfg requires that at least 25% of the company's business comes from low-carbon energy and renewable fuels, energy efficiency and natural resource management. Gpfg reduces major ESG risks through timely divestment. From 2012 to 2021, gpfg eliminated 366 enterprises based on ESG standards.
(4) California teacher retirement fund (CalSTRS)
Since 2004, CalSTRS has incorporated climate factors into investment policies and processes. In 2021, the CalSTRS Committee promised to achieve "net zero" greenhouse gas emissions of the portfolio by 2050. CalSTRS released the "net zero Climate Action Plan" to formulate specific action plans from three aspects: risk, return and impact, including the fund's "carbon footprint" calculation, climate risk analysis, expanding the amount of investment in low-carbon solutions, and promoting the invested companies to take climate actions.
Risk warning: the development of ESG investment is not as expected; Poor understanding of overseas pension funds.
