Responsible Investment Updates
On this page you will find our Responsible Investment updates.
The updates provide detail on Responsible Investment decisions, or other actions we have taken, on a regular basis.
Actions include but are not limited to:
- Exclusions
- Our performance relative to Responsible Investment benchmarks
- Our participation in collaborative Responsible Investment campaigns
- Our contribution to the development of best practice in Responsible Investment
Recent updates
July 2009: Guardians participate in creation of guide for responsible investment in private equity
The Guardians are part of the UNPRI Steering Committee on Private Equity. The Committee has developed a guide to help all UNPRI signatories develop their approaches to investing responsibly in private equity. The intention is for the guide to contribute to defining best practice responsible investment in this asset class. The guide can be found here and a set of case studies, including a case study of the Guardians work with New Zealand private equity investor Direct Capital, is here.
June 2009 (update of December 2008 web post): Exclusion of companies involved in the manufacture and testing of nuclear explosive devices
The Board of the Guardians has decided to release the legal opinions received as part of their review of the issue of investment in companies associated with nuclear weapons. This has been done to further assist interested parties to understand the Guardians' decision-making process, originally disclosed in December 2008, to exclude from the Fund the securities of companies involved directly in the manufacture or testing of nuclear explosive devices. The legal opinions are dated
8 May 2007 and
6 October 2008. The Guardians have previously disclosed detail on the thinking behind the decision, which can be found
here. The Fund's list of excluded companies is regularly reviewed and updated with information from our external screening agencies.
December 2008: Exclusion of companies involved in the manufacture of cluster munitions
The Guardians have directed their fund managers to exclude the securities of eleven companies involved in the manufacture of cluster munitions from the Fund, and to divest from any current holdings in such securities. Four of the companies have already been excluded due to their involvement in the manufacture of anti-personnel mines. The directive to fund managers follows the signing of the Cluster Munitions Convention by New Zealand on the 3 December 2008. A list of companies excluded can be found
here. This list is regularly reviewed and updated with information from our external screening agencies.
November 2008: Guardians
Perform Well on Global Responsible Investment
The UNPRI conducts an annual assessment of progress against its six principles for responsible investment by signatories. The Guardians individual results show we are one of the top performing funds in the region and in the upper half or quartile globally across the majority of principles. Looking ahead, given that we employ specialist investment managers to carry out our investment strategies, we are assessing how we can better incorporate responsible investment issues into their decision making in line with Principle one. The UNPRI annual review is based on signatory self-assessment and from this year it will be compulsory. The Guardians' PRI Reporting and Assessment Tool Individual Results July 2008 report is available on our website ( click here to view the report).
Archived updates (pre-November 2008)
Here you will find updates on subjects including:
- Guardians' support of world-wide campaign on human rights, working conditions and anti-corruption
- Guardians become signatory to Investor Group on Climate Change
- Guardians' participation in Carbon Disclosure Project
- Divestment of tobacco stocks
- Divestments relating to anti-personnel mines and whale meat
