Smart Pension invests in Mirova Global Green Bond Fund

Smart Pension, one of the UK’s leading workplace pension providers, announces its first green bonds investment through the Mirova Global Green Bond Fund. Green bonds are a tool aimed at efficiently addressing climate change and Smart Pension is among one of the first master trusts to invest its default growth fund in green bonds.

Mirova’s Global Green Bond Fund directly funds projects searching for high environmental and social positive impact, therefore making a real difference to the people and planet around us. Investing in green bonds also aims to improve outcomes for savers in both financial and environmental terms.

The news comes after Smart Pension announced a biodiversity partnership with AXA Investment Managers in October 2022, with the aim of bolstering Smart Pension’s investments into decarbonisation and companies that are addressing biodiversity loss.

In October 2021, Smart Pension signed up to the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change and also committed to the Impact Investing Institute’s Impact Investing Principles, to support and progress its investment solutions in light of climate change.

The Smart Pension Master Trust also invests into a private credit fund whose investment decisions are grounded in ESG principles, providing rare access to this asset class in DC pension schemes. In June 2022, Smart Pension announced that its default growth fund will be net zero by 2040 and that it is on track to have cut the fund’s emissions by 50 per cent between 2019 and 2025.

Paul Bucksey, chief investment officer at Smart Pension, commented: “We are focused on achieving great outcomes for our members. We want to help them secure not just long-term financial growth but also a safer, healthier world in which they can retire. The pension industry has a golden opportunity to drive faster decarbonisation, by investing in businesses that are serious about cutting their carbon emissions.

“Over 70 per cent of our flagship growth fund has been invested in sustainable funds for a while now, and this investment coupled with other recent changes bring us to 100 per cent. We expect these investments will play a key role in achieving our 2040 net zero target.”

Fiona Smith, investment proposition manager at Smart Pension, commented: “Green bonds are an important addition to our growth fund because they directly fund environmental projects and have a tangible impact on the world around us. We chose Mirova’s Global Green Bond Fund to incorporate its environmental strategy as we seek to improve results further for our members.”

Hervé Guez, CIO of Equities, fixed income and social impact management at Mirova, commented: “We are grateful to Smart Pension for their trust in our expertise in fixed income and sustainable investing.

“For 10 years now, we have developed a strong knowledge of the green bond segment, and we are eager to maximize our environmental impact and deliver returns, while helping to safeguard the integrity of this fast-growing market.”

By Mark Adair – Correspondent, Bdaily

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