The Fund is prohibited from investing in securities of weapon manufacturer. This includes the manufacture of conventional weapons and weapons systems, controversial weapons (including nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons, cluster munitions, depleted uranium weapons, and landmines).

The Fund is prohibited from investing in securities of companies that produce, distribute, retail and supply tobacco products.

The Principles for Responsible Investment offer a menu of possible actions for incorporating ESG issues into investment practice.  The Principles for Responsible Investment were developed by an international group of institutional investors reflecting the increasing relevance of environmental, social, and corporate governance issues to investment practices. The process was convened by the United Nations Secretary-General.  More information can be found on the PRI website here.   

The United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund invested in the inaugural green bonds of the World Bank. The bonds raised funds for projects seeking to mitigate climate change or help affected people adapt to it.

• Sustainable and proxy voting policy
  • The Fund adhered to sustainable investment proxy voting guidelines in partnership with a leading global provider.  OIM’s sustainable voting policy generally references globally recognized sustainability-related initiatives such as the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI). It promotes sustainable business practices, fair labour practices, non-discrimination, the protection of human rights, and gender diversity on boards, among other objectives. They advance positive corporate ESG actions which promote practices that mitigate financial and reputational risk. 
• Low Carbon ETFs Launch
  • The UNJSPF provided the initial funding for two exchange-traded funds (ETFs) - the iShares MSCI ACWI Low Carbon Target ETF from BlackRock Inc and SPDR MSCI ACWI Low Carbon Target ETF State Street Corp - that invest in companies with low carbon emissions. 

Climate Action 100+ is an investor-led initiative to ensure the world’s largest corporate greenhouse gas emitters take necessary action on climate change.  More information can be found on the website here.  UNJSPF ranked #7 of the top 100 global pension funds as measured by the Asset Owners Disclosure Project (AODP).  The Asset Owners Disclosure Project (AODP) rates and ranks the world’s largest institutional investors and assesses their response to climate-related risks and opportunities. The ratings are made public, providing much-needed transparency for beneficiaries, clients, investors and stakeholders, and emphasized through advocacy and direct engagement to drive change.

 UNJSPF ranked #17 of the top 500 global pension funds as measured by the Asset Owners Disclosure Project (AODP).  The Fund also obtained an A+ rating from the PRI. 

The objective of our Sustainable Investing approach is to integrate ESG considerations in our investment decision-making process across all asset classes. 

• GRESB as benchmark for Core Real Estate
  • The UNJSPF signed a membership agreement with the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB). The GRESB membership provides standardized and validated data to augment OIM’s capability in assessing and benchmarking the ESG performance of its investments in real assets. The GRESB partnership will also facilitate our collaboration with other asset owners such as “best in class” global pension funds.  
• Thermal Coal Divestiture
  • Coal energy sector was removed from all asset classes of the UNJSPF assets as of 1st September 2020. This divestment came earlier than planned, as the Office of Investment Management (OIM), had pledged in September 2018 to divest from investments in publicly traded companies in the coal energy sector by 31 December 2020. Divesting from coal demonstrated OIM’s support to the global energy system scenario consistent with the 2015 Paris Agreement and its contribution to the attainment of the 2015 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). 
• Integration of ESG into the OIM Investment Policy Statement (IPS)
  • The Investment Policy Statement (IPS) was updated in 2019. Elements related to ESG were integrated into the policy to underline the Fund’s commitment to the integration of ESG into the activities of the UNJSPF. More information can be found in the IPS here. how we invest

• Committed to implement recommendations of the TCFD
  • The Office of Investment Management (OIM) committed to implement the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). The TFCD was established in 2015 by the Financial Stability Board (FSB) to develop consistent climate-related financial information disclosures to identify relevant risks and opportunities for use by companies, banks, and investors. The FSB members comprises finance ministries, financial regulators, and central banks of twenty-five of the world’s major countries and regions.  Please refer to the TFCD website here for more information. 
• Joined the Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance
  • The Office of Investment Management (OIM) joined the United Nations-convened Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance. The Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance is an international group of institutional investors committed to transition their investment portfolios to net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050 that was launched at the Secretary-General’s 2019 Climate Action Summit. The initiative is centered upon a united investor action to align portfolios with a 1.5°C scenario, addressing the finance goal (Article 2.1c) of the Paris Agreement.  More information can be found on the Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance website here. 

• Carbon reduction targets 
  • The United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund (UNJSPF) set new ambitious climate targets to reduce its investment-induced greenhouse gas emissions by 29% in 2021 and 40% by 2025 for its equities and corporate bonds portfolios.  More information can be found on the communication here.
•  Fossil Fuel Divestment 
• • The Fund excluded the entire fossil fuel value chain from its investment portfolio (equities and bonds). The divestment decision targeted all businesses in the fossil fuel value chain - extraction and production, pipelines and transportation, equipment and services, refining, petrochemicals, trading, and distribution and retail. There will be no new investments in these businesses; only companies which are transitioning their business models towards a low carbon economy will be considered for investment. Regarding Private Markets, no new investments are made in non-transitioning fossil fuel assets. 

The UN Pension Fund released its first report explaining how it addresses the challenges caused by climate change on its investment activities.  With regard to governance, the report confirms that OIM’s climate-related decision making follows a well-structured channel of oversight. In terms of strategy, the report highlights that OIM recognizes both physical and transitional risks to the value of the assets of UNJSPF and has strategies to reduce these risks by reaching net-zero by 2050 and aligning with the IPCC 1.5°C scenario.  OIM uses in-house methodologies and third parties to identify risks and uses divestment, engagement, and investment in transitioning companies to manage climate risks and take advantage of climate opportunities. OIM uses scopes 1, 2 and 3 emissions metrics to assess risks and has a target to reduce financed emissions by 40% by 2025 from 2019 levels for scopes 1 and 2.  More information can be found in the report here.  (UNJSPF Report March)