The legal action by REST super member Mark McVeigh has argued that the trustee of the fund had breached its fiduciary duties owed to him by failing to consider climate change risks.
Final discovery orders for the case were agreed upon by both parties in late December.
All drafts and versions of REST’s climate change policy implemented from December 2018 will be laid out, along with the parts of the fund trustee’s risk management strategy relating to climate risk or investment from 1 January 2017.
The discovery orders have also pulled JANA into the case, including documents from REST’s investment committee or general manager of investments showing how the external investment manager assessed portfolios for climate change risk in the last year.
Also up for scrutiny are REST’s sustainability policy, its investment governance framework, investee boards’ policy and key risk documents.
Further, it has included documents regarding REST’s policy and membership of the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) along with advice it has received in relation to the recommendations of the Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD).
REST is one of Australia’s largest asset managers, with 1.9 million members. The lawyer leading the claim, David Barnden, has told Investor Daily the case will test standards around accountability and transparency for the super industry.
Both JANA and REST declined to comment.
Sarah Simpkins
Sarah Simpkins is a journalist at Momentum Media, reporting primarily on banking, financial services and wealth.
Prior to joining the team in 2018, Sarah worked in trade media and produced stories for a current affairs program on community radio.
You can contact her on [email protected].
