The legal action by REST member Mark McVeigh has argued the $57 billion fund breached its fiduciary duties owed to him by failing to consider climate change risks.
The three-day trial which was originally set for July, is now taking place from 2 November.
A court order made on Wednesday has said REST is to provide documents to Mr McVeigh in a second round of discovery, with mediation to occur by 28 August.
A pretrial case management hearing will take place on 2 September.
Final discovery orders for the case were agreed upon by both parties in late December, with documents including stress testing policies for climate change risk from REST and investment consultant JANA to be examined in the Federal Court.
Other documents up for scrutiny included REST’s climate change policy from December 2018, the fund trustee’s risk management strategy relating to climate risk or investment from 1 January, the fund’s investment governance framework, and investee boards’ policy.
The fund’s policy and membership of the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) and advice it received on the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) were also included.
REST is one of Australia’s largest super funds, with around 2 million members. Mr McVeigh’s representing lawyer, Equity Generations principal David Barnden has previously told Investor Daily the case will test standards around accountability and transparency for the super industry.
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.
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