tailieunhanh - US Pension Funds’ Labour- Friendly Investments

It is estimated that transitioning to a low-carbon and climate resilient economy and more broadly „greening growth‟ over the next 20 years will require significant investment and consequently private sources of capital on a much larger scale than previously - particularly given the current state of government finances. There is already international agreement on the need to increase financing for climate mitigation and adaptation – with international financing commitments already having been made. With their USD 28 trillion in assets, pension funds – along with other institutional investors – potentially have an important role. | ALFRED p. SLOAN FOUNDATION Industry Studies Annual Conference I May 1-2 2008 I Boston MA 2008 http is08 program US Pension Funds Labour- Friendly Investments Tessa Hebb Carleton University and Oxford University Centre for the Environment Larry Beeferman Labor and Worklife Program Harvard Law School BECOME A SLOAN AFFILIATE http programs US Pension Funds Labour- Friendly Investments Tessa Hebb and Larry Beeferman Carleton University and Oxford University Centre for the Environment Labor and Worklife Program Harvard Law School April 2008 Abstract Pension funds can be thought of as deferred workers wages. In many cases occupational pension funds have been established at the bargaining table through union representation. While all pension funds are established for the benefit of the pension plan beneficiaries these deferred workers wages also have a significant impact on the communities in which they are invested. Labor friendly investments seek to direct the impacts of investment in a manner that creates strong and healthy communities and supports union or fair wage employment practices. Labor friendly pension funds in the US are generally either Taft-Hartley pension plans jointly trusteed or union trusteed multi-employer plans or public sector pension funds with a significant presence of union trustees. These funds often have a range of labor friendly policies and programs aimed at building strong and healthy communities. Such programs include responsible contractors policies responsible investors policies and specific allocations for targeted or economically targeted investments in their investment portfolio. These targeted investments often require union built construction in the case of real estate or fixed income mortgage backed securities or are aimed at job creation and retention in the case of private equity investments . This paper explores the evolution of labor friendly US investments by pension funds in the period