In the September edition of Professional Pensions, John Mulligan references the early signs emerging that institutional investors’ are embracing gold as a strategic asset and introduces why gold’s ESG credentials may propel this interest further.
On 1 October 2019, disclosure rules were introduced representing what the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association described as a first step in an “ESG journey” for trustees. And this year trustees will be required to report on this journey, while also detailing their understanding of the potential impacts of the climate crisis on their investments.
In other words, ESG and climate factors are now vital and unavoidable elements in determining how investments are chosen, managed, and measured.
The status of these investments has never been more precarious. The value of the average UK pension fund plummeted as the economic consequences of Covid-19 started to bite, with Q1 2020 quarterly performance the worst on record. There has since been a rebound, but there are questions as to how robust it might be.