Responsible Investor

index also includes efficiency, water, and waste technologies.”
Dutch pension funds are thinking hard about responsible investment strategies but have yet to make great strides in implementation, according to a survey by the Dutch organisation of investors for durable development, (VBDO), reports ipe.com. The report said pension funds had “a long way to go in terms of implementation, transparency and communication” of SRI policy, although it said many were reviewing their policy. It said 40% of the respondents engaged in dialogue with the companies they invest in, while only 20% said social responsibility affected voting behaviour. One in 10 responding Dutch funds said they screen their equity selection based on SRI criteria. VBDO found that PGGM, PME, ABP and PMT, the largest funds in the Netherlands, were the most advanced in terms of SRI implementation.
Rupert Clarke has been appointed chief executive of Hermes Pensions Management, the UK £52bn fund manager owned by the BT Pension Fund, which has a specialist activist investment arm. The fund manager is also injecting £50m into the business to promote it as a specialist boutique manager in commodities, hedge funds, real estate and private equity. Clarke was previously head of Hermes Real Estate Investment Management. Separately, Rod Kent, former chief executive of Close Brothers, the London-base investment bank, was named chairman of the BT pension fund, replacing Tim Chessells, who is retiring. *Zurich, the Swiss financial services group, has signed *

up to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (UNPRI). Zurich announced it had introduced a corporate responsibility program across all its businesses. David Smith, chief executive said: “For companies operating within our community it is not a matter of corporate responsibility being ‘nice to do’. It is now a business imperative.”
Global banking groups should stop funding new coal, oil and gas extraction and the most harmful practices in
other greenhouse gas intensive sectors if they are serious about combating climate change, according to BankTrack, the international network of NGOs. The call comes in a paper, ‘A challenging climate; what international banks should do to combat climate change’. The report can be found at: www.banktrack.org
Investors should consider prospects in the water infrastructure sector because of likely future scarcity in water supplies, according to a Merrill Lynch analyst report. The report said economic and population growth combined with higher living standards had created more demand for water that could lead to regional shortages. Unlike other commodities, water compared is difficult to distribute and trade. Zoe Knight and Robert Miller-Bakewell, analysts at Merrill Lynch said the UK is spending around £4bn ($8bn) a year on water services networks, and that the EU, pro rata, would be spending approximately €50bn ($73 billion), providing investment opportunity in municipal water suppliers, water service providers and water treatment technology firms.
Investors in Asian equities face higher levels of climate risk than investors in other regions because

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