By Benjamin Mullin Source: The New York Times A Biden administration rule that allows employee retirement plans to consider environmental, social and governance issues in investment decisions survived a legal challenge by 26 states on Thursday. Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk of U.S. District Court in Amarillo, Texas, said in a 14-page opinion that he would not block the rule, part of the so-called E.S.G. investment trend that places emphasis on companies’ records on labor issues, social justice and environmental [...]

Source: AFL-CIO Workers’ retirement security is at risk as some Republican lawmakers play politics with working people’s pension plans. By restricting consideration of environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks in investment and proxy voting decisions, these partisan politicians seek control of trillions of dollars in workers’ pension investments. Pension plans represent the deferred wages of working people and must be invested with prudence and loyalty to provide retirement benefits. The proper stewardship of retirement savings requires the freedom to [...]

By Hazel Bradford Source: Pensions & Investments Investors are increasingly factoring ESG into their investment decisions, according to a PricewaterhouseCoopers survey released Thursday. The PwC 2021 Global Investor ESG Survey found that 80% of those surveyed considered ESG an important factor. Nearly 70% thought it should be factored into executive compensation, with 59% saying that a company's lack of action on ESG issues would make them likely to vote against pay packages, and one-third already taking that action. For [...]

By Arleen Jacobius Source: Pensions & Investments While ESG factors play an important role in real estate managers' investment decisions, asset owners also are asking managers to look inward at their own firms' diversity and inclusion efforts. Gender and ethnic diversity is becoming a big issue for real estate managers, driven by some of the largest asset owners that do not think management firms are diverse enough and are calling on them for change, said Josh Herrenkohl, New York-based [...]

Environmental, social and governance factors are continuing to influence company strategy, financing and operating environments in 2021, according to a new report by Fitch Ratings Inc. It found financial institutions will likely continue to enhance ESG due diligence and exclusionary policies to cover a broader set of ESG issues and entities, as the quality and quantity of ESG data is improved by increasing reporting requirements and harmonization of standards. In addition, a growing interest in sustainability is sparking debate [...]