Press Release – January 17, 2023
Major institutional equity mandate to be benchmarked to Scientific Beta climate index
French additional civil service pension scheme benchmarks circa €300m mandate to Scientific Beta climate impact consistent index
One of the most prominent pension schemes in Europe, the €41.7bn additional pension scheme for French civil servants, ERAFP, had announced that it was awarding a circa €300m mandate to be benchmarked to the Scientific Beta Eurozone Climate Impact Consistent EU PAB Compliant index, and the corresponding fund has now been launched. The choice of index reflects ERAFP's climate commitments, made notably within the framework of the Net Zero Asset Owner Alliance (NZAOA).
The decision by ERAFP is a major vote of confidence in Scientific Beta's Climate Impact Consistent index offering. Since 2021, Scientific Beta has been offering these indices with pure climate objectives that allow climate exclusions and weightings to be combined in order to translate companies' climate alignment engagement into portfolio decisions.
The mandate will be awarded for a four-year term, twice renewable for one year, bringing the maximum term of the mandate to six years, and must be managed while respecting the socially responsible investing principles under which all of ERAFP's allocations have been managed since 2005.
Commenting on this announcement, Kin Yee Ng, CEO of Scientific Beta, said, "We are gratified that ERAFP has seen fit to award such a significant mandate on the basis of Scientific Beta's climate impact consistent (CIC) indices. The CIC index is the result of robust research that delivers a consistent climate offering on the market. Traditional climate indices and benchmarks, which combine financial and climate criteria, frequently lead to contradictions with compromised climate impact. We believe our CIC indices' strict focus on climate objectives raises the bar for climate action."
About Scientific Beta:
Scientific Beta aims to be the first provider of a smart factor and ESG/climate index platform to help investors understand and invest in advanced factor and ESG/climate equity strategies. Established by EDHEC-Risk Institute, one of the top academic institutions in the field of fundamental and applied research for the investment industry, Scientific Beta shares the same concern for scientific rigour and veracity, which it applies to all the services that it offers investors and asset managers.
On January 31, 2020, Singapore Exchange (SGX) acquired a majority stake in Scientific Beta. SGX is maintaining the strong collaboration with EDHEC Business School, and principles of independent, empirical-based academic research, that have benefited Scientific Beta's development to date. Since 2015, Scientific Beta has also been offering highly advanced strategies in the area of ESG and climate change, whether involving options integrated into smart beta indices or pure ESG or climate benchmarks.
As a complement to its own research, Scientific Beta supports an important research initiative developed by EDHEC on ESG and climate investing and cooperates with V.E and ISS ESG for the construction of its ESG and climate indices.
Scientific Beta, 2 Shenton Way, #02-02, SGX Centre I, Singapore 068804. For further information, please contact:
contact@scientificbeta.com, Web: www.scientificbeta.com
