A year in FairPensions
There have been many successes for FairPensions in the last 12 months. Last Easter we launched our first co-campaign targeting the Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis, which was challenging India's right to produce affordable, generic versions of medicines which are depended upon by millions of people living in poverty across the world. FairPensions joined a coalition lead by Oxfam and Medecins Sans Frontieres and took the campaign to investors in Novartis - a tactic so successful that one industry insider said they had 'never had so many questions from pension funds on a campaign issue'. Novartis admitted in the Wall Street Journal that it 'didn't quite expect the uproar we've had' and within days of losing the case at the Indian High Court announced that it was dropping its planned appeal.
January 6, 2008 by howzey. City skyline
Also in the last year, fourteen of the largest twenty pension funds improved their accountability on social and environmental issues (as ranked on our annual survey) following our campaigning, and we are delighted to have expanded our activities beyond pension funds to include the largest fund managers operating in the UK - a group that manages over 7 trillion pounds of assets on behalf of clients including pension funds, charities, insurance companies and individuals.
While pension funds have become more transparent, however, there are still relatively few industry leaders who are actively engaging with companies on issues such as greenhouse gas emissions or human rights abuses. We aim to make it the norm for investors to consider these issues as central to a long-term business plan.
This year also saw our first major public affairs work, promoting responsible investment for the new Personal Accounts pension fund. Read more about it here.
FairPensions has also seen some staff changes in the last year. In October we welcomed Howard Baker as Director of Engagement. In December 2007 we were sad to say goodbye to Alex van der Velden, our CEO and founder. Alex has joined PGGM pension fund in Holland as their Head of Sustainable Investment Strategies. We have now recruited a new CEO, who will be starting in July 2008.
FairPensions plans to influence even more investors over the next 12 months with some big new campaigns, so keep checking the website for updates.