More than nine out of 10 pension advisers and EBC expect all the main pension providers and schemes to be Paris-aligned in future.
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Advisers and industry experts were polled at Corporate Adviser’s virtual ESG forum. Looking forward 91 per cent said they expected firm commitments to be aligned with the Paris Climate Change goals, of net zero emissions by 2050, and halving emissions by 2030.
Less than one in 10 (9 per cent) said they did not expect all major providers to comply.
In recent months a number of pension providers have committed to net zero targets.
However this research also showed that there is a split when it comes to delivering ‘Paris-aligned’ advice. While half of the advisers and EBCs surveyed said they would automatically exclude from their recommendation panel pensions they did not have explicit net zero goals, 50 per cent said they would not make any automatic exclusion.
Speaking at the event Tony Burdon, CEO of the campaign group Make My Money Matter says he was calling for the consultancy and advisory industry to commit to ‘Paris-aligned advice’.
Looking at wider ESG issues, it was clear that the majority of delegates at the event thought that engagement and stewardship were likely to have the biggest impact on climate change, when compared to divestment or tilting strategies with 65 per cent of delegates selected the former, compared to just 35 per cent opting for the latter.
There was a similar split when it came to looking at whether asset managers were supplying schemes with the data they needed to comply with ESG reporting regulations. A total of 36 per cent of consultants and advisers thought they were making a “fair attempt at what is a big job”, while 64 per cent said some are doing this “but most are dragging their heels”.
Delegates were also asked about the corporate they deal with and whether they were ahead of the pensions industry when it came to the implementation of ESG and climate change measures. More than eight out of 10 respondents (83 per cent) said they did not think this was the case.
While this seems a conclusive result, there views in the room were more split when it came to looking at what other themes may become ESG issues in future.
When asked whether biodiversity would be a significant ESG issue, the results were split down the middle, with 50 per cent anticipating this would be problem and 50 per cent disagreeing this would be an issue.
