Eighteen leaders of large public and private sector pension funds and pools have written to the Financial Times to urge companies to engage with all their stakeholders.
This approach was not a matter of being “woke”, they wrote, but that “stakeholder capitalism” would “unleash mutually beneficial relationships to create long-term value”.
Their letter to the FT stated: “Long-term value is most reliably generated by companies led with a clear sense of purpose that guides their strategy and informs their values.”
They suggested that in some quarters commitments by businesses to better manage carbon risks and to engage constructively with stakeholders “are increasingly decried as somehow endangering long-term value creation. We wish unanimously to reassert that our experience, and the evidence, show the opposite.”
The signatories are responsible for £675bn in assets. In the letter, they write: “It is only by honestly engaging with the full range of stakeholders – including consumers, employees and shareholders – that value can be sustained over the long run.”
They added that the growing emphasis being placed by companies on sustainability and the drive to net zero needed to intensify. “To the extent there are difficult decisions and trade-offs, they need to be explicit, open and explained to stakeholders.”
Among the 18 signatories were: Faith Ward, chief responsible investment officer, Brunel Pension Partnership; Rachel Elwell, chief executive officer, Border to Coast Pension Partnership; Gordon Ross, chief investment officer, LGPS Central; Mark Walker, chief investment officer, Coal Pension Trustees Investment; Craig Martin, chief pensions officer, Environment Agency Pension Fund; David Vallery, chief executive, Lothian Pension Fund; Rachel Brothwood, director of pensions, West Midlands Pension Fund; David Murphy, chief executive, Northern Ireland Local Government Officers’ Superannuation Committee; John Chilman, chief executive, Railpen; and Adam Matthews, chief responsible investment officer, Church of England Pension Board.
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