CalPERS, Aviva Investors win inaugural RI Awards for Innovation and Leadership

CalPERS and Aviva Investors have won the inaugural RI Awards for Innovation and Leadership in the asset owner and asset manager category respectively.

The awards were handed out at the inaugural RI Awards & Dinner at the RI Europe 2017 event in London.

California pension giant CalPERS was noted for its five-year plan for governance and sustainability while Aviva Investors won for being “at the centre of, and tirelessly pushing forward, all things RI related”. Commended in the asset owner category were Japan’s Government Pension Fund, HSBC Pension Scheme and ABP. Commended in the asset manager category were AXA IM and Impax Asset Management.

In the service provider category, the winners were the 2° Investing Initiative and the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC). In the corporate category, the winners were Tesla and Unilever.

The collaborations award went to Aiming for A while Hiromichi Mizuno, CIO of the GPIF won the Outstanding Individual Contribution award. The Innovation & Industry Leadership awards were judged by c.50 industry figures worldwide.“We didn’t quite know what to expect when we made the decision to launch the RI Awards for Innovation & Industry Leadership,” said Tony Hay, publisher of Responsible Investor, “but the quality, variety and number of nominations indicates just what a vibrant industry we work in.”

The new awards build on the established RI Reporting Awards.

This year the award for Best RI Report by an Asset Owner (large funds) went to France’s Caisse Des Depots. The Best RI Report by an Asset Owner (Medium & Small Funds) went to the Netherlands’ FMO.

The Best RI Report by an Asset Manager (Large Firms) went to Insight Investment while Singapore’s Arisaig Partners scooped this award in the Medium and Small Firms category.

The RI Awards, in partnership with Refine Research, were established in 2013 to create an aspirational benchmark for asset owners and asset managers by encouraging and recognizing best practice and transparency in responsible investment reporting. Link