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The California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) has released the results of its Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) Assessment Report. CalPERS received an A+ for the 2015 Overarching Approach Module, which is the highest grade a signatory can receive under the PRI assessment scheme.
The report is the result of a survey issued annually to all PRI signatories. Signatories are asset owners, investment managers and professional service partners that have voluntarily agreed to disclose how they are addressing responsible investment across asset classes with respect to fund management and active ownership. At its core, PRI's assessment, which is supported by the United Nations, seeks to answer how signatories govern and implement responsible investments.
"We are proud of our exceptional score," said Ted Eliopoulos, CalPERS Chief Investment Officer. "A commitment to sustainable investing is engrained throughout our investment beliefs."
The report provided module breakdowns for various asset classes. In addition to receiving an A+ in overarching approach, CalPERS also received an A+ in Listed Equity Active Ownership. Only seven assets owners of the 286 surveyed globally received such a score.
"It's a measure of our progress towards sustainable investment activity," said Anne Simpson, Investment Director for Global Governance at CalPERS. "We know this is an evolving field and there is still much work to be done."
For more than eight decades, CalPERS has built retirement and health security for state, school, and public agency members who invest their lifework in public service. Our pension fund serves more than 1.7 million members in the CalPERS retirement system and administers benefits for more than 1.4 million members and their families in our health program, making us the largest defined-benefit public pension in the U.S. CalPERS' total fund market value currently stands at approximately $300 billion. For more information, visit www.calpers.ca.gov.
