Church Commissioners receive investment awards and triple-A rating on climate change

03/05/2016

The Church Commissioners for England have taken home two prizes at this year's Portfolio Institutional Awards - the Best Charity / Fund / Trust Award for the first time since 2013, and the Best Implementation of Responsible Investment Award for the second year in a row.

The awards come as the Church Commissioners have also been given the highest AAA rating in this year's Asset Owners Disclosure Project (AODP) Global Climate 500, coming 10th in the index. The rating recognises the work done by the Commissioners to mitigate the investment risks of climate change through engagement and shareholder resolutions, as well as the Commissioners' support for low carbon investment.

Edward Mason, Head of Responsible Investment for the Church Commissioners, said "We're delighted to seethe hard work of our whole investment team on responsible investment and climate change recognised. Our investments allow us to fund the church's activities across the country, as well as giving us an opportunity to engage with companies on a range of issues. It is good to see that this work resonates with others in the investment community."

The Portfolio Institutional judging panel were particularly impressed by the alignment of the Commissioners' mission with their investments, their consistently strong returns, and their shareholder engagement work, especially as part of the 'Aiming for A' initiative which saw climate change related disclosure resolutions passed at BP and Shell's AGMs last year.

Notes to editors

The Portfolio Institutional Awards are held annually, recognising excellence among institutional investors. Each award category is judged by specially selected category juries and supervised by an academic panel. The ceremony was held last week on Thursday 28 April at Banking Hall in the heart of the City of London. More information can be found at http://portfolio-institutional-awards.co.uk/.

The independent non-profit AODP rates the world's 500 biggest investors - pension funds, insurers, sovereign wealth funds, foundations and endowments with $38 trillion of assets under management (AUM) - on their success at managing climate risk within their portfolios, based on direct disclosures and publicly available information. They are graded from AAA to D while those taking no action are rated X. The 2016 Global Climate 500 was published on Monday 2 May. More information can be found at http://www.aodproject.net/.