FOI001066 FOI Pension Fund

Short Description
Investments
Reference number
FOI001066
Date
25/11/2024
Request

Since publication of 'The Emperors New Climate Scenarios' by the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA) in July 2023, there have been a *series of critical reports (refer to partial list below) warning of the failures of climate modelling/ climate scenario analysis widely used by investment consultants, central banks and the NGFS.

These reports demonstrate that both the market price of bonds & securities, and future expectations of damages - do not reflect growing physical climate risks - including the failure to assess climate tipping points. I am interested to understand what corrective action the fund, its external consultants & asset managers have taken to assess & manage mounting physical climate risks in the period since publication(s)?

Please confirm/ explain - for the 2023/24 and 2024/25 financial years only - providing copies of source/reference documents where available:

1. If/how you've updated internal risk registers to reflect physical climate risks not being adequately priced/forecast? due to the exclusion of tipping points and other known limitations?

2. If/ how investment consultants you engage with have updated their models to include climate tipping points following expert and member criticisms since 2023?

3. Have you updated investment strategy statements & other related investment policy documents to reflect growing physical climate risks?

4.  Have you discussed climate risk modelling flaws/limitations at the pension fund committee since the 2023/24 report publications? and if so have you changed your approach to correct for them?

5. Have you reviewed/ updated investment consultant procurement briefs/ mandates to include tipping points & reflect/ help manage mounting physical climate risks since July 2023?

6. Have you reviewed/ updated AM mandates to reflect/ help manage mounting physical climate risks since July 2023?

7. In your experience, have Asset Managers meaningfully changed where and how they invest on your members behalf - based on investment consultants climate scenario analysis modelling outputs? If so how? - providing relevant examples.

Response