UK gives sustainable stewardship green light
October 22, 2021
The UK government this week (18-22 October 2021) sent the strongest signals yet that stewardship and informed voting plays a central role in the investment process. On Monday, HM Treasury laid out its roadmap for sustainable finance, while on Thursday, the Department of Work and Pensions launched its proposals to empower pension trustees with new rights which will empower them to ownership of the stewardship of their assets. Secretary of State, Thérèse Coffey MP and the Minister for Pensions, Guy Opperman MP, spelt it out clearly that their proposals, “are intended to support pensions schemes to play their part in tackling climate change and protect their members’ savings from environmental, social and governance risks.”
Both the roadmap and the consultation drew attention to the recommendations of the Taskforce on Pension Scheme Voting Implementation which I was honoured to ask to be Vice-Chair along with Simon Howard our hard-working Chair, and an active and engaged committee including Maria Nazarova-Doyle of Scottish Widows and AMNT representatives, Janice Howard and Leanne Clements. Our year-long work, backed by a public consultation, demonstrated clearly the many frustrations that schemes have experienced with trying to be good stewards. Hence our many recommendations were all designed to bring asset owners and managers closer together by proposing ways to remove barriers to informed ownership.
But regulatory frameworks and guidance are just the start. We now need to get on with implementation. My role in TPSVI was not, however, to create a unique commercial advantage or privilege for Minerva. On the contrary, it was to share the experience of the past 25 plus years and to show the power and possibilities of open standards together with the application of technology and high-quality data can be an enabler of better stewardship.
We very much welcome the HMT Roadmap and DWP Consultation and the recognition of Minerva’s award-winning pooled fund voting solution to support The AMX and DWS. In the months ahead will continue to push for reform of the proxy plumbing to better support and protect investors’ best interests. With assistance from our strategic shareholder Solactive, Minerva continues to invest in our talented and expert team and our leading-edge technology. Our policy research and product development have been focused on ensuring that our sustainable stewardship services are ready for the Net Zero transition. Today we are not only providing proxy research and comprehensive climate change voting guidelines, but our ESG solution, Minerva Nexus is now embedded in bespoke ESG indexes and ETF propositions, and our UN SDG analytics are guiding asset owners in their understanding of how their ESG risks can be understood and managed. Even our securities lending, not necessarily the first thing that springs to many investors’ minds when it comes to stewardship, is now firmly anchored in “sustainability first” principles.
The next decade of responsible investment and sustainable stewardship will be not be driven by passive AI algorithms, but by high-quality, stewardship information and trustworthy data processing solutions that are backed up by knowledge and insights. As professional information scientists with many decades of investment data knowledge and expertise, we understand the importance of independent and objective research. That’s why Minerva is fully committed to its “custom as standard” principles and why we co-founded the Net Zero Financial Service Providers Alliance. It’s also why, in the coming weeks, Minerva will be launching an open invitation to join our new policy advisory board.
We know that in some parts of the financial services community, shareholder voting research has been treated with, at minimum, suspicion, and at worst, outright hostility and negativity. But, as the Roadmap and Consultation show, sustainable stewardship is here to stay. That means that informed, objective and trustworthy voting is the only way forward. So, if you would be interested in knowing more, please get in touch. Send an email to hello@minerva.info and we will be in touch.
Thank you
Sarah Wilson
CEO, Minerva Analytics
Find out more about Minerva’s commitment to net zero, read our latest Minerva Briefing on Climate Stewardship. Minerva is inviting clients and the wider investor community to respond to this briefing via a public stakeholder survey. Download the briefing and have your say to shape the future of sustainable stewardship by 18:00 BST November 19th, 2021.
Last Updated: 22 October 2021