“We are living off the Earth’s capital – we need to live off the interest.”

Achim Steiner, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Program

The preamble of the new Regulation 28 of the Pensions Fund Act states that prudent investing means giving appropriate consideration to any factor that could materially affect the sustainable, long-term performance of a fund’s assets, including environmental, social and governance factors. This means that responsible investing is no longer simply a nice-to-have, or the domain of some retirement funds, but not others. All trustees, irrespective of their existing mandates with fund managers, should now ensure that responsible investing is on the agenda.