A new pension-focused institute has been created that seeks to challenge nationwide efforts to convince public pension funds to divest from companies for environmental, social, or governance (ESG) reasons.
The Institute for Pension Fund Integrity says many of the stocks that the ESG movement shuns generate good returns, so dumping them will harm pension portfolio returns. The group said it wants to ensure that state and local leaders are held responsible for their choices in public pension investment, and “to keep plan managers from placing politics ahead of prudent investment.”
It advocates four core principles in public pension management: adherence to fiduciary responsibility; balanced economic, social, and governance factor investments; long-term pension fund return; and data-driven investment. The institute’s president is Christopher Burnham, chairman of strategic advisory services firm Cambridge Global Advisors, a former Connecticut state treasurer, and a former undersecretary general at the United Nations under President George W. Bush.