In recent years there has been a huge push for society, and fund managers, to consider environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors. This has led to claims of greenwashing. Greenwashing is when a firm claims to have a greater ESG focus than they actually do.
As people grow increasingly interested in ‘going green’, the issue of greenwashing is becoming a problem faced by all of society, not just pension schemes. Investment managers and companies are seeing opportunities to capitalise on the changing sentiment by making their products appear greener than they really are. A recent example is the fast food restaurant McDonalds. They swapped their single-use plastic straws for a paper alternative. However, in August 2019, a leaked internal document showed that the straws were non-recyclable.
From October 2019, trustees need to set out how they take account of ESG issues in their statement of investment principles (SIPs). This has resulted in a frantic push from managers to make their funds meet the standards – which could encourage greenwashing. A key issue with ESG factors is the lack of clarity on what it means, making it easier for managers to greenwash their funds.
Going colour blind
Pension schemes could have been affected by untrustworthy 'green' credentials from investment managers. I suspect many may not realise it has happened as it is difficult for trustees to scrutinise managers’ ESG claims. A concern for trustees is that if they allocate to a manager based on their ESG values, the manager may not act as expected, which would create a lack of trust with ESG investing. Greenwashing could, therefore, destroy investors’ confidence as they may lose faith in companies or fund managers that promote themselves as focusing on ESG issues. This could have a knock-on effect by slowing down the pace of ESG investing, which would be detrimental to the positive impact it can have. Greenwashing also makes it harder to identify managers who are truly trying to make a difference, potentially reducing the pace of ESG innovation.
The grass can still be greener
Often managers state they have been integrating ESG for many years, but their team and head of ESG are all recent hires. Trustees should look for a more seasoned team to mitigate this concern. Many managers make assertions that they have been following ESG practices for many years by excluding certain sectors. However, this is often driven by client demand rather than the managers’ ESG beliefs, so it can be tricky to get a clear understanding of a managers’ ESG credentials.
It is difficult for trustees to ensure that their investments are as environmentally responsible as managers claim. Trustees place a great deal of trust in their investment managers to act in their best interests, but it is hard for them to monitor. Often, the easiest way for trustees to be confident that their investments are environmentally responsible is to allocate to managers who have a genuine track record of integrating ESG into their investment philosophy and process; and not to those managers who have simply jumped on the bandwagon to include it.
Trustees should look at managers’ track record of stewardship and engagement with companies, and to the quality of their ESG team. They should also work with their investment consultants to help provide a deeper understanding of the managers’ credentials.