Major European institutional equity mandate to be benchmarked to Scientific Beta low carbon index

One of the most prominent pension schemes in Europe, the €23.5bn additional pension scheme for French civil servants, ERAFP, has announced that it is awarding a mandate to asset managers for a euro zone mid- and large-cap listed equities portfolio worth €500 million to €1 billion that will be benchmarked to the Scientific Beta Eurozone Max Sharpe Ratio ERAFP SRI Carbon Efficient index.

The decision by ERAFP is a major vote of confidence in ERI Scientific Beta, the smart beta index provider set up by EDHEC Risk Institute in 2012. EDHEC Risk Institute has been conducting research for several years on the possibility of reconciling financial and environmental performance and the launch of a new series of low carbon indices by ERI Scientific Beta earlier this year marked the practical realisation of these research efforts.

The mandate will be awarded for a six-year term and must be managed while respecting the socially responsible investing (SRI) principles under which all of ERAFP's allocations are managed.

Commenting on this announcement, Noël Amenc, CEO of ERI Scientific Beta, said, "Having announced the launch of our low carbon indices earlier this year, we are gratified that ERAFP has seen fit to award such a significant mandate so soon on the basis of ERI Scientific Beta's low carbon indices. The low carbon indices produced by ERI Scientific Beta offer access to short and medium-term outperformance by using consensual results from financial research in the area of smart beta and portfolio diversification. The exclusion from the index of the worst firms in terms of carbon intensity in each sector of activity guarantees that these indices have a strong positive impact on the environment."