It’s been a busy month at mallowstreet, with a huge number of new joiners, playing our part at the UN in New York and coming up with new initiatives based on what we’re hearing from you, our community.

Not only did we welcome over 64 new members to the community (most of whom were pension funds), but we saw tremendous levels of engagement, with over 150 different articles published by community members.  

Do you know someone who should join the community? Click here to invite them today.

We also joined other finance leaders and world leaders from government/health to launch The Tobacco-Free Finance Pledge at the United Nations in New York. This is important, because 7 million people die a year from tobacco related illnesses. According to the World Health Organization, tobacco consumption is the single largest preventable cause of death.

The Pledge encourages signatories to consider the adoption of tobacco-free finance policies across lending, insurance, and investment, in line with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals and the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. 

We encourage all community members (and your organisation) to consider signing the pledge (click here to access the pledge).  The pledge is open for two years, and just imagine what the crowd will look like at the UN in 2020! 

Throughout September, we focused on the theme of Sustainability. This was well received by the community as evidenced by the most popular articles during the month.  The discussion continues, so please do login and post your comments and answer the outstanding questions from trustee members when you can this month.   The top 10 search terms reveal what was front and centre on the minds (and agendas) for pension funds.

 

Looking at the top search terms, the key themes of Sustainability keep coming up, and members keep asking me two questions: 

·         What does all of this actually mean, and how do you do it? 

·         What does best in class look like, and how can my pension fund or the pension funds I advise easily and seamlessly implement suitable solutions?   

This got us thinking about a very ambitious project: A New Climate for Pension Funds. We are about to embark on a journey and are asking members of the community to participate in a research study to help us change the narrative on climate and sustainability. This will help us draw up a ‘play book’ that all pension funds can use across the industry, both here in the UK, and globally.  

If you’d like to learn more, message me on mallowstreet or get in touch.