IPE Awards: Environment Agency wins European Pension Fund of the Year

The Environment Agency Pension Fund (EAPF) was named European Pension Fund of the Year at tonight’s IPE Awards 2024 ceremony in Prague. 

The pension fund, which is part of the UK’s Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS), has also bagged the leading pension fund award for the UK. 

Sustainability has been a key driver of EAPF’s investment strategy for over 20 years, having conceived its approach in 2023 with its first investment with an environmental overlay made in 2005. Its commitment since then to innovative, sustainably focused portfolios across all asset classes has delivered strong financial returns and has contributed to EAPF being a fully funded scheme for the last eight years. 

“With challenging emission goals and the creation of a new investment category for natural capital, EAPF identifies itself with the background and specific knowledge of its members in a smart way. A true example for other funds to follow,” said one judge for the IPE awards panel. 

Earlier this year EAPF was also the recipient of the Public Markets Investments award at the inaugural IPE Transition Awards. 

Olivier Russeau is this year’s winner of the Outstanding Industry Contribution award.

After a distinguished career ranging from leading positions in asset management and global international banking Paris, Tokyo, London, Singapore, Hong Kong and Sydney to the French Treasury, Rousseau was appointed as executive director of the French state reserve fund, Fonds de Réserve pour les Retraites (FRR) in November 2011. He recently left the position following two terms at the helm of the €21.2bn fund. He also chaired its asset manager selection committee.

Rousseau played a key role in FRR’s success, helping to navigate considerable change during his 12-year tenure, especially in positioning it as a respected sustainability-driven asset owner. At the time he joined FRR, it was embarking on a fully-fledged liability-driven investment (LDI) approach in the wake of the 2010 French pension reform, having been an assets-only structure until that point. He was also instrumental in reshaping FRR’s investment strategy to overcome limitations set by the French government.

Meanwhile, Fjärde AP-fonden (AP4) bagged a whopping six awards, including the leading pension fund award for Sweden, Investment Innovation, Equities, Active Management, Public Pension Fund, and Commitment to Diversity awards. 

As part of Sweden’s national pensions buffer system, AP4 is celebrating its 50th anniversary with an average annual return of 13% since inception, and an initial capital contribution which has risen 1,000-fold from SEK500m (€43.4m) in 1974 to SEK533bn by 30 June 2024. 

The 2024 IPE Awards attracted more than 380 entries across 41 categories representing 24 countries, with participating investors managing €1.84trn in assets. Some 89 judges were involved in assessing entries, each bringing specialist expertise or knowledge in a particular category. 

Among the 506 overall delegates, there were 313 executives from pension funds, consultants and other institutions, representing over 63 million members (active, retirees and deferred). 

Find out about all the winners in IPE’s dedicated Awards Supplement.