Yorkshire reports on impact on people and the planet

South Yorkshire Pensions Authority has published its first impact report to understand the way its investments interact with both people and the planet, and whether that interaction is positive or negative.

The report was produced for the authority by Minerva Analytics, a specialist consultancy. It examined the whole of the authority’s investment portfolio to determine whether each underlying investment has a positive or negative impact in relation to each of the 17 the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Pensions authority director George Graham said: “Every investment we make has some impact on people or planet and it is important that we understand what that impact is, so that we can identify areas where we should be seeking to influence the behaviour of the companies we invest in.”

Graham continues, “We are accountable to stakeholders for the decisions we make about how scheme members’ savings are invested and by making this information public we are providing them with the ability to better understand the decisions we have made and hold us to account for them, and while our primary duty is to achieve the required investment return we should be conscious of the impact we have while doing so as negative impacts may represent future financial risks and positive impacts the opportunity for enhanced returns.”

The pensions authority will publish this information each year as part of its annual reporting processes.

The South Yorkshire Pensions Authority is responsible for the management of the £10.5 billion South Yorkshire Pension Fund. The fund has around 170,000 members working for over 600 different employing organisations in South Yorkshire, including local councils, schools and colleges and civilian staff in the police and fire services.