Schindler Pensionskasse, the CHF2.2bn (€2.3bn) pension scheme for the Swiss manufacturer of elevators, will start to assess its private market managers’ compliance with ESG standards, a further step to integrate sustainability in all asset classes.

Chief financial officer Mario Passerini told IPE the scheme wants to apply ESG standards to all asset classes. “For alternatives the managers will be evaluated,” he added.

In the past years the scheme has continued to integrate ESG criteria mostly in traditional asset classes such as equities and bonds.

“Various funds could be assessed in terms of ESG,” Passerini added to explain how the Pensionskasse takes into account sustainability in traditional asset classes.

The scheme has cut carbon emissions in its equities and bonds portfolios by close to 40% in the past few years.

Its securities portfolio’s exposure to CO2-intensive companies has decreased from 112.41 to 80.79 tons per million invested within a year, as the scheme committed capital to ESG funds, it added.

It is also now investing in real estate indirectly in line with ESG standards, according to the scheme’s sustainability report for 2023.

This year and ESG rating was carried out for CHF1.97bn of the fund’s assets (89%) – up by 10 percentage points compared with last year’s rating, mainly due to the integration of the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB) benchmark to indirectly held real estate properties, it said.

Equities and bonds recorded an ESG score of 7.28 this year, compared with 8.18 last year, because the so-called “adjustment factor” previously used by MSCI was no longer taken into account.

Schindler excludes from its investment universe companies generating revenues from the production of controversial weapons, violating human rights, and firms generating more than 30% of their revenues from thermal coal, among others.

Passerini said that for now the pension fund is not planning to add further companies in other sectors to its exclusion list.

Last year the scheme invested CHF10m in the Finreon Carbon Focus equity fund and its carbon focus swap which has a negative CO2 footprint.

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Luigi is IPE's Berlin-based DACH correspondent. His coverage includes regulation and the latest pensions and investments trends, and, being a native Italian, he also covers Italy’s pensions market. He has reported from Italy and Germany on international politics and business for European and US publications including USA Today, Bloomberg BNA and for the investigative magazine L’Espresso. He was previously Germany correspondent for Mergermarket covering M&A.View full Profile

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