The Climate Bonds Initiative is focused on mobilizing institutional investors, such as pension funds, to help engineer a rapid transition to a low-carbon - and sustainable - economy.
Fiduciary duty is the term used to describe a pension fund trustee's responsibility to act in the best interests of the person whose assets they are in charge of. The boundaries of that responsibility have usually been defined as being limited to stock (and bond) picking decisions; but such an approach can be limiting in the face of systemic threats like the financial crisis - or climate change.
Does fiduciary duty mean that trustees need to pursue all possible avenues - including perhaps working collaboratively with other funds - in acting in the best interests of pension fund beneficiaries? Or should they keep their heads down and only consider relative returns of assets.
International Trade Union Council General Secretary Sharan Burrow is influential among the large cohort of pension fund trustees drawn from unions - and she has strong views on the correct meaning of fiduciary duty and on the responsiblities of pension fund trustees.
Join us tomorrow Thurs 8 May for a webinar - Sharan Burrow in conversation with Keith L. Johnson on: "Pushing the Reset Button for Pension Fund Investment".
The webinar is presented by Climate Bonds Initiative with Sustainable Financial Markets & the Sustainable Investment Professional Certification.
Sharan Burrow is the first female leader of the world's largest international trade union organization, the ITUC. Before her election as General Secretary in 2010, she was President of the ITUC from its foundation in 2006 and had previously been the first female President of the (ICFTU), a forerunner institution of the ITUC. She is the first woman to have held any of these positions.
Keith L. Johnson is a director of Sustainable Financial Markets and a member of the International Corporate Governance Network's Shareholder Responsibilities Committee. He is head of the Institutional Investor Services Group at legal firm Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren s.c., where he represents pension funds and institutional investors globally on fiduciary, investment, corporate governance and securities litigation matters.
Webinar Date: Thursday, May 9th
Time: 11-11:45am EDT / 4pm London / 7pm Dubai
Register for the webinar at: https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/431539830
