GLOBAL - French civil servants pension scheme ERAFP and Generation Investment Management have been recognised for their commitment to environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) at the IPE/TBLI ESG Leaders Awards in London.

The €10bn ERAFP was named best investor for the second year running for its engagement process with local authorities in France and the implementation of ESG in its portfolio.

Generation Investment Management - which was co-founded by former US presidential candidate Al Gore in 2004 - was named best asset manager investing in ESG.

The firm was rewarded for an investment style that blends traditional equity research with a focus on sustainability factors.

The judges were Angela de Wolff of ConSer, Axel Wilhelm of Sustainalytics, Davide dal Maso of Avanzi, Floris Lambrechtsen of Double Dividend and Mike Tyrrell of SRI-Connect.

Ivo Knoepfel, managing director and founder of Swiss research and investment strategies specialist firm onValues, was honoured for his outstanding contribution to the development of ESG.

He works with pension funds and insurance companies to develop a disciplined, long-term approach to asset management, taking into account ESG issues.

Sweden-based Global Ethical Standard (GES) Investment Services won the award for best ESG consultancy/research house.

The firm's Global Ethical Standard is a tool for engaging in or avoiding investments in companies that are documented to conduct business in a manner contrary to well-established international ESG norms.

The prize for most innovative development related to ESG went to research and related software development specialist Maplecroft.

The firm offers investors risk screens, monitoring tools and insight into the most challenging political, economic, social and environmental risks and responsibilities facing businesses globally.

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