Investing Super Apparently It Is Not Just About Returns!

Senator Sherry is keen on Super Trustees becoming responsible by adopting ESG principles when making investment decisions.

ESG stands for environmental, social and governance. 

Senator Sherry considers that a super trustee who does not take into account ESG issues may very well be breaching their investment duties.  (We strongly disagree with this view.)

The Senator has requested APRA to review its investment guidance to clarify the fiduciary responsibility of trustees in balancing short term vs long-term investment goals and to make it clear that trustees can incorporate ESG issues in the formulation of their investment and other operational strategies.

It is one thing for a super trustee to take into account social and environmental issues when investing (in the same way that trustees may need to take into account political issues when investing – eg will a government change its policies and thereby affect the likely return of a particular investment).  However, achieving desirable social and environment outcomes is not the purpose of super.  The purpose of super is to maximise the investment wealth of super investors.