{"id":16789,"date":"2019-09-13T10:20:35","date_gmt":"2019-09-13T14:20:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.benefitscanada.com\/news\/a-practical-look-at-responsible-investing-at-the-ontario-teachers-135768"},"modified":"2019-09-13T10:20:35","modified_gmt":"2019-09-13T14:20:35","slug":"a-practical-look-at-responsible-investing-at-ontario-teachers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/2019\/09\/13\/a-practical-look-at-responsible-investing-at-ontario-teachers\/","title":{"rendered":"A practical look at responsible investing at Ontario Teachers\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Yaelle Gang, the Canadian Investment Review<\/span> | September 13, 2019 <\/p>\n

As environmental, social and governance issues are increasingly recognized as material factors when considering investments and amid growing stakeholder pressure, many options are available for pension plans looking to incorporate ESG into their portfolios.<\/p>\n

\u201cHistorically, you saw a lot more on the ethical investing end of things \u2014 so exclusions, negative screens,\u201d said Eli Angen, principal of responsible investing, strategy and risk at the Ontario Teachers\u2019 Pension Plan, during a session at the 2019 Association of Canadian Pension Management\u2019s conference on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver time, you\u2019ve seen more and more variety in the approach. And Ontario Teachers\u2019 takes a responsible investing approach. So that\u2019s about integrating ESG consideration across the investment lifecycle.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read: Institutional investors increasingly see ESG as a source of alpha: survey<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The pension fund\u2019s approach to responsible investing includes four pillars: integrate, engage, influence and evolve, he added.<\/p>\n

It integrates across the investment lifecycle, beginning with governance. Every year, the board of directors approves the responsible investing approach and provides oversight, said Angen. And the executive team is accountable for rolling out the approach.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut then, at the end of the day, the ownership of it really happens with portfolio managers. They\u2019re responsible for the execution. And we do that because we want the person who owns the investment risk to own the ESG risk alongside that because we believe in that linkage.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Ontario Teachers\u2019 responsible investment team acts as a support and internal resource, he added. \u201cWe do things to support deal teams. We build tools, resources [and] frameworks. We help them get access to good data. But at the end of the day, the decision-making around including ESG still rests with the investment managers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read: Ontario Teachers\u2019 partners with Alphabet, Sidewalk Labs to launch infrastructure holding company<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

One example of this in action is providing due diligence support to the investment team.<\/p>\n

The Ontario Teachers\u2019 responsible investment team has also developed an ESG maturity framework. \u201cThat helps identify what are the material ESG issues that apply to any given sector of the economy and we\u2019ve really levered some publicly available tools, like the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board, that have done that mapping, and then refined it for our own use,\u201d noted Angen.<\/p>\n

The team also has a fund maturity matrix, which looks at the plan\u2019s fund managers and tries to understand how they measure up against each other and the broader marketplace in ESG practices. \u201cAnd importantly, none of this is trying to screen someone out because they aren\u2019t incorporating ESG factors,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Read: Impact investing in public equities on the rise in Canada: report<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, if they\u2019ve had really great returns, we\u2019re definitely interested in talking to them. But it\u2019s about understanding what are the opportunities for continuous improvement and how can we help share best practices between them?\u201d<\/p>\n

The journey to responsible investing is an ongoing one, said Angen. \u201cWe\u2019ve been working on this for a long time and that\u2019s how we\u2019ve gotten to this position, but it\u2019s just important to start and accept that it\u2019s going to be an iterative journey.\u201d<\/p>\n

This article was originally published on <\/em>Benefits Canada\u2018s companion site, the <\/em>Canadian Investment Review<\/a><\/strong>. <\/em><\/p>\n

Read the full article at BenefitsCanada.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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