The Goldman Sachs JBWere (GSJBW) staff superannuation fund has become the first Australian corporate super fund to sign the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI).
As a signatory, the not-for-profit employer-sponsored super fund has agreed to consider environmental, social and corporate governance issues in its investment analysis.
Adopting the principles will enhance the investment decision making process of the fund, the fund’s chair Angela Manning said.
“Goldman Sachs JBWere Investment Research shows that the way in which companies integrate ESG [environmental, social and corporate governance] into their operations can have an impact on their financial performance,” Manning said.
“Signing the PRI is not about ethical investing or screening out of certain types of investments,” she said.
“Rather it is about consideration of all issues relevant to an investment so we can make the best decisions for the investment outcome of the fund.”
The super fund is managed internally.
Goldman Sachs JBWere Asset Management signed the principles in October for all domestically managed funds.
It joined other Australian signatories including Portfolio Partners, AMP Capital Investors, BT Financial Group, Colonial First State and Axa Australia.
Recent research by investment house Mercer and the UN found that taking environmental and social governance into an investment management process did not appear to bring a performance penalty.
Signatories collectively hold more than $11 trillion in assets.
