Al Gore said pension investment needs to change if sustainable factors such as environmental concerns don’t fit into the “short-term-ism” of current asset management. Speaking today before about 900 people attending the National Association of Pension Funds Investment Conference in Edinburgh, the former U.S. vice president proposed that pension fund trustees “truly match assets and liabilities” by integrating sustainability factors into the investment process.
“If you adopt a long-term view and not just say you do, then (sustainability factors) are not only more relevant but they also become the most distinguishing set of values you can use to determine what firms are going to perform better than others,” said Mr. Gore, who is also chairman of Generation Investment Management, a London-based asset management firm focused on socially responsible equity investing.
“If the only tool you’ve got is a hammer, then every problem will begin to look like a nail,” Mr. Gore said. “I’m urging you to systematically find a way” to integrate sustainability factors, which has “hand and glove linkage with long-term investing.”
