Decision details

County Councillor Ellard, the Chair of the Responsible Investment Working Group, presented a report which set out a number of recommendations on how the Fund could further support responsible investment, including draft Responsible Investment and Climate Change Policies.

The Committee agreed some minor amendments to the proposed Responsible Investment Policy which are highlighted in the revised version attached as an Annex to these Minutes. With regard to the proposed Climate Change Policy it was suggested that reference be made in the first paragraph to stranded assets and that further work was required on the draft, including reviewing it against the LAPFF Climate Change Investment Policy, before a final version could be presented for approval.

Resolved:

1.  That the amended Responsible Investment Policy, set out as an Annex to these Minutes, is approved.

2.  That the first paragraph of the draft Climate Change Policy, set out at Appendix 'B' to the report presented, be amended to include 'via stranded assets' after the words 'shareholder value'.

3.  That the amended Climate Change policy referred to at 2 above be referred to the Responsible Investment Working Group for further discussion with Officers at the Local Pensions Partnership with a view to a comprehensive policy being presented to the Committee in December 2018.

4.  That the response of the Working Group to the request from Councillor
M Smith for a reduction in the investments in fossil fuels and tobacco/alcohol referred to it by the Committee on the 1st December 2017 is noted.

5.  That future reporting by the Local Pension Partnership should include a 'Dashboard' as set out at Appendix 'C' to the report presented, and focus initially on Global Equities and Infrastructure to be followed by Real Estate, Social Housing and Property in the future.