Public pension fund trustees have a perfect path to avoid the politics of ESG investing

It seems almost everyone involved in government, politics, and public pensions wants to talk about environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing for public pension systems. Depending on who is commenting, they will tell you ESG is either completely necessary for the strong long-term performance of investments or ESG will preclude any possibility of strong performance in the future. The reality, of course, is that ESG is a political construct and has no direct correlation to how a pension system should invest its assets. 

Environmental, social, and governance issues are commonly packaged together in investment discussions through the ESG acronym, but a closer examination of these components raises questions about the value of grouping these things together.

It is evident that the concept of ESG investing owes its existence to politics by simply looking at its components. Why else would environmental, social, and governance criteria be lumped together other than for political positioning? Why not past, present, and future?  Or animal, vegetable, or mineral? 

Some idealists with a political agenda made the determination that these separate elements, ESG, were, in total, critical for long-term investing success, as well as other broader goals. They were also successful in positioning these three elements as a singular, necessary approach to investing success. ESG opponents then emerged, and the debate commenced. Through years of engagement, even opponents contributed to the idea that these three elements should be treated as one. Their position then became one where absolutely no credence could be given to any ESG investing criteria.

A prudent person, on the other hand, can see elements in standalone environmental, social, and governance issues that should be considered when public pension systems are making investment decisions. That same prudent person would also see that not every one of these issues should be applied to each and every investment decision. In fact, it is just as foolish to eliminate all such criteria from investing as it is foolish to include all such criteria. 

Fortunately, public pension fund trustees must follow prudent fiduciary standards, which set boundaries on how investment decisions are to be made. Given this, public pension fund trustees are afforded a perfect path to avoid the purely political argument that ESG investing has become. Fiduciary standards require that pension fund trustees make investment decisions based on providing the best possible financial outcomes consistent with the pension plan’s objectives for the plan’s participants and for the plan itself. 

All-in or all-out ESG investing is not sound, prudent fiduciary policy.  Therefore, public pension fund trustees should make investment decisions based on practical and sound financial criteria, not based on political ESG classifications that prioritize other factors above returns and volatility. The likely outcome of prudent decision-making is that some decisions will be made that align with the ESG approach, and others will not. All of these decisions, however, must be made for the good of the pension plan’s members and not to satisfy political agendas. 

The practical approach to responsible public pension system governance is there, fiduciaries just need to follow it.