Pension Fund Management

We are the administering authority for the Environment Agency active and closed funds. The active fund is open to all of our employees whilst the closed fund provides benefits to those members of the former Water Authorities Superannuation Fund who were either pensioners or deferred members on the privatisation of the water industry in 1989.
      

• Pension Funds governance policy (PDF, 400KB)
  This document describes the status, composition and responsibilities of the Pensions Committee as well as the arrangements for and limitation to the delegation of power and duties within the Environment Agency under the regulations applicable to the Local Goverment Pension Scheme.
• Active pension fund funding strategy statement (PDF, 130KB)
  The active fund funding strategy statement sets out the fund-specific strategy that is used by the Actuary to inform his valuation and determine the employer contribution rate required, taking a prudent longer-term view of funding of liabilities.
• Our pension fund communications policy statement (PDF, 293KB)
  This document describes the ways that we communicate with pension fund members, stakeholders and other interested parties. It is subject to periodic review by the Pensions Committee.
• Pension fund fraud policy (PDF, 118KB)
  The Fraud Policy sets out the Pension Committee's policy for handling fraud or suspected fraud related to the pension funds.

Both funds are part of the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS). We are one of the largest member of the LGPS and one of the biggest pension funds in the United Kingdom. Our active pension fund has now won several prestigious awards and been highly commended in many others.

• Pension fund awards (PDF, 55KB)
  Details of the awards won by our pension fund, including our latest 2011 awards.
  

Annual report and accounts

Please see our publications page for previous annual reports and further information.

• Active pension fund - Annual report and financial statement, 2011 (PDF, 846KB)
• Closed pension fund - Annual report and financial statement, 2011 (PDF 562KB)
   

Responsible Investment

We aim to demonstrate to our fund managers and other stakeholders that our active pension fund is managed responsibly with financially robust and environmentally credible strategies and policies for the investment and mangement of the funds assets. Below are the regular disclosures and most recent articles regarding the implementation of our responsible investment strategy. Please see our publications pages for further research, reports, case studies, voting disclosure and other information.

• Responsible investment review (PDF, 1.73MB)
  A ground breaking report that brings together the policies, processes and initiatives we have used to implement responsible investment across our whole fund.
• Making our active pension fund investment strategy greener (PDF, 38KB)
  A board paper on how we have made the investment strategy of the Active Pension Fund greener, and used it to influence behaviour in the wider investment world.
  

United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (UNPRI)

• UNPRI survey questionnaire (PDF, 153KB)
  As part of our membership of the UN Principles of Responsible Investment we publish our response to their annual questionnaire, this is our 2010 response.
  

UK Stewardship Code

• Our compliance with the UK Stewardship code (PDF, 55KB)
  Environment Agency Active Fund (EAPF) is fully committed to responsible investment. We believe there is a considerable body of evidence that well governed companies produce better and more sustainable returns than poorly governed companies. A summary of our compliance with the UK Stewardship code, published in 2010, is detailed below.
  

Voting

• Active pension fund voting policy on environmental issues (PDF, 55KB)
  The voting policy for the Environment Agency Active Pension Fund for 2011-12. It contains details of our voting guidance on environmental disclosure, environmental and social governance (ESG) links to pay and performance, as well as a wide range of environmental issues including climate change, sustainability reporting, waste, energy, non-conventional fossil fuels, etc.
• Environmental resolutions 2011/12 interim (PDF, 67KB)
  Our voting record between April 2011 and September 2011, 22% of which relate to the environmental impact of operations.
• Environmental resolutions 2010/11 (PDF, 93KB)
  Our voting record on 81 global environmental resolutions during 2010/11.
  

Engagement

• Hermes equity ownership services public engagement report (PDF, 8MB)
  Public engagement report for the period to 30 June 2011, supplied by Hermes Equity Ownership Services who act as overlay service providers on the index tracking element of our pension fund.
  

Recent articles

• Reducing environmental risk without compromising performance (PDF, 149KB)
  Since 2006 we have measured the environmental footprint of our actively managed equities.  This has shown that between 2006 and 2010 our actively managed equities have, in aggregate, financially outperformed the benchmark of the MSCI World Developed Countries Index by +2.5% whilst the environmental footprint has reduced by 30%.  This article provides more information about this pioneering work.
• Public service review, 2011 (PDF, 60KB)
  A recent article in which Howard Pearce, Head of Environmental Finance and Pension Fund Management, explains the changing role of our pension fund.
  

Presentations

• Making our investment strategy greener (PDF, 693KB)
  A presentation explaining the work we have done the investment strategy of our pension fund greener, and the drivers behind why we believe this is a fundamental aspect of our fiduciary duty.
• The UK Stewardship Code (PDF, 368KB)
  Presentation from the Local Authority Conference 2011 which explains our investment philosophy and stewardship frameworks.
• The Environment Agency Pension Fund and climate change (PDF, 312KB)
  A presentation from 2011 on how we measure and manage our environmental impact.