South Korea welfare ministry has said the country’s national pension fund will consider climate change as part of its stewardship activities going forward.
The ministry in a statement on Tuesday said that the panel that oversees the National Pension Service’s (NPS) fund management policies has decided to add climate change and industrial accidents to its list of focus areas for responsible investment activities.
Hitherto, the world’s third-largest public pension fund has only engaged with companies focusing primarily on matters related to corporate governance, such as dividend policy, remuneration caps for directors and violation of rules and regulations.
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“Now there exists a framework for the pension fund to get involved in companies’ climate change responses, and it will have to be monitored whether the fund carries out responsible investment activities based on the framework going forward,” said Han Soo-youn, climate finance lead at Solutions for Our Climate, a Seoul-based advocacy group.
Although the NPS in May 2021 said that it would limit investing in industries related to coal mining and coal-fired power to join global efforts to reduce carbon emissions, there is no guideline that restricts the investment yet.
Story was adapted from Reuters.
