Pension investments 'put at risk'

Oil spills can ruin investments as well as the environment, warn campaigners

Several big pension schemes fail to say how they manage the environmental and social impact of their investments, a pressure group says.

The group, Fairpensions, says only five of the 20 largest schemes disclose how they manage these issues.

It says the lack of disclosure means the investments could be at risk.

BBC and Royal Mail pension schemes were singled out for a lack of transparency, but the Royal Mail said it acted in a socially responsible manner.

The chief executive of Fairpensions, Alex van der Velden, said: "Pension scheme members will have concerns about how their pensions will be affected by issues such as climate change, but most are not given reassuring information on such issues."

Social responsibilty

Fairpensions claims that only one of the pension schemes it looked at - that of BT - revealed to members how it cast its votes at shareholders' annual general meetings.

Only five, it said, described publicly how they went about discussing social or environmental issues with the companies in which they had invested.

And although 15 revealed their largest shareholdings, only one - that of the Universities Superannuation Scheme - revealed its top 100 investments.

But a Royal Mail spokesman said: "The Royal Mail pension fund is administered by an independent board of trustees, which includes members from the unions and pensioners themselves.

"Investments made on behalf of the fund are done so in line with a policy of social responsibility," he added.

The Fairpensions survey looked at the UK's 20 biggest pension schemes outside the public sector, which together have 3.8 million members and assets worth £250bn.

The campaign group was set up last year with the support of Amnesty, Oxfam and WWF.