Responsible Investment

Responsible investment

LCPF is committed to the long-term responsible investment (RI) of retirement savings on behalf of Fund members.

Responsible investment practices support the delivery of the sustainable returns needed to pay pensions through a focus on identifying and understanding investment risks and improving risk-adjusted returns over the long term.

The Fund’s assets are managed under pooled investment arrangements. As part of pooling, day to day decision-making around the appointment of asset managers, the selection of investment products, and the exercise of ownership responsibilities has been delegated to Local Pension Partnership Investments Ltd (LPPI). The Fund has set an overall investment strategy and is also involved in investor collaborations that engage with companies, regulators and interest groups on issues that matter to the Fund, but investment selection and ongoing stewardship activities (such as shareholder voting) are managed centrally by LPPI on behalf of the whole partnership. LPPI are monitored by the Fund and held to account for delivering the investment strategy and for implementing RI policy commitments.

The Fund's approach to Responsible Investment, including the commitment to environmental, social and governance (ESG) integration is set out in the Fund's Investment Strategy Statement (ISS), which can be found found in Publications. 

Climate change

LPPI has voluntarily made a public commitment to the long-term goal of aligning our portfolio with net zero emissions by 2050. Net zero is an aspirational multi-decadal ambition and as a signatory to the Net Zero Asset Manager Commitment, LPPI will work in partnership with us and other asset owner clients to bring emissions measurement and portfolio net zero alignment into closer focus. This means sourcing data, setting targets, monitoring progress, and actively encouraging the companies we invest in to decarbonise, so they are well placed to benefit from the global transition underway and deliver the sustainable investment returns we need to pay pensions. LPPI has published targets for listed equities (our largest asset class), corporate fixed income assets within the Fixed Income Fund and Credit fund, and our direct real estate portfolio. They will bring further asset classes progressively into scope over time. You can read more about this in LPPI’s Roadmap to Net Zero and on the net zero asset managers website here. You can also find LPPI’s climate disclosure reports which report the emissions and assessment of climate risks for a number of funds on their website here.