LGPS Central launches £1 billion global sustainable equities fund

LGPS Central has launched a £1 billion global sustainable equities active fund with funding from four of its local authority partners.

The LGPS Central Global Sustainable Equity fund is made up of three themed sub-funds that cover broad, thematic and targeted funds managed by Mirova, Liontrust and Baillie Gifford respectively.

LGPS Central chief investment officer, Gordon Ross, said: “We are continuing to develop our product offering to provide suitable choice to our valued partner funds. In the spirit of pooling, our aim is to offer high performing, cost effective investment vehicles in line with their varying strategies and this fund launch represents a very positive addition to our offer.”

The fund aims to bring together a mix of diverse managers to invest in only the most sustainable businesses, with an expectation of delivering suitable returns over the longer term as the world transitions to a lower carbon economy. The fund will be benchmarked against the FTSE All World Index. The four initial investors from launch are Cheshire (£360 million), Nottinghamshire (£320 million), Shropshire (£120 million) and Worcestershire Pension Funds (£200 million).

Councillor Myles Hogg of the Cheshire Pension Fund, said: “The investment will enable the Cheshire Pension Fund to make faster progress against our commitment to transition to net zero carbon emissions, across all of our investment portfolios. It will also accelerate our plans to decarbonise our equity portfolio, while at the same time protecting financial returns.”