即使世界上最大的养老基金应对宏观经济挑战，他们仍在加强对环境，社会和治理要求的承诺。
But an annual study on the global top 300 pension funds, Willis Towers Watson’s Thinking Ahead Institute (in conjunction with Pensions and Investments) highlights that increased regulatory scrutiny on practices like greenwashing are pushing public pension funds to reassess their communication with their stakeholders when it comes to reporting on climate action. The increasing politicization of ESG is a particular threat to efforts on sustainability by U.S. pensions, according to the institute. And many lack resources to make good on their commitments. The Thinking Ahead Group research team analyzed performance and trends at the top 300 pension funds in the world, which together have $23.6 trillion in assets under management.
研究报告说，养老金正在寻找缺乏资源的方法。报告说：“养老基金正在追求更多的战略参与，建立更有效的联盟并实施更复杂的投资组合解决方案。”“尽管该行业的大多数是管理投资组合中与气候相关的风险，但转向现实世界的影响是其胚胎阶段。”
对ESG的重视日益强调是在养老基金增长放缓的时期。在2021年，这些资金的资产仅增加了8.9％，与2020年增长11.5％相比。
Out of these 300 funds, the top 20 largest pensions in the world — including Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund, Norway’s Government Pension Fund, the National pension in South Korea, and the Federal Retirement Thrift in the U.S. — experienced the highest growth rates over the last five years. But even the growth at these funds slowed in 2021: The AUM of the top 20 funds in the world increased by 6.6 percent last year, a drop from a 14.6 percent increase in 2020. The top 20, which represented 40 percent of all assets in 2021, invested approximately 53.5 percent in stocks, 27.9 percent in fixed income, and 18.6 percent in alternatives and cash.
尽管养老金行业广泛地将注意力集中在ESG倡议上，但最近几个月，一些州立法机关，最著名的是佛罗里达州和西弗吉尼亚，对以ESG为重点的资产经理进行美国公共资金投资制定禁令，并使用这些因素来帮助选择投资。在这项研究的排名中，佛罗里达州议会在全球排名第16大养老基金，而西弗吉尼亚州排名第284位。