Asset Consultants Survey - The Climate Institute

CLIMATE CHANGE INVESTMENT INITIATIVE UPDATE – Asset Consultants Survey1. Executive summaryBackgroundThe Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees (“AIST”) and The Climate Institutelaunched a survey for asset consultants in June 2009. This survey is critical as it reveals theopinions and capabilities of asset consultants (who advise superfunds on their key strategicdecisions of asset allocation and manager shortlisting) around the area of managing climatechange risks and opportunities.The survey was sent to 19 1 of the most active asset consultants in Australia and conductedvia correspondence. Asset consultants were given approximately eight weeks for completion.Of the consulting companies invited to respond, nine of the invited companies completed thesurvey. Jointly, the survey respondents had AU$529.4 billion 2 funds under advice inAustralia. Approximately AU$374.9 billion of these funds were made up by Australiansuperannuation funds which also represents 57% of Australia’s AU$662.3 billionsuperannuation assets (excluding pooled superannuation trusts, small APRA funds, singlememberapproved deposit funds (ADFs) and self-managed superannuation funds).Critically, the nine respondents included all the major asset consulting companies servicingAustralian super funds. The highest proportion of respondents were either dedicated assetconsulting companies or the asset consulting arm of a broader finance organisation, withboth types of organisations each making up 44% of the total respondents.The survey overall shows a ‘mixed bag’ in terms of asset consultants’ preparation for, andcapabilities in, climate change risk. While some firms are PRI signatories and would beexpected to take a leading role, others might have made commercial decisions not to provideclimate-related advice to trustees. As trustees take a more active stance in managing climatechange risk, consultants will need to improve their offering if they want to retain their positionas the preferred advisors to trustees.12The consulting survey was initially sent to 20 consulting companies but one had declined to respond as it has sold off itsasset consulting business.This is a minimum amount of funds in Australia under advice as one consulting company only provided the level of fundsunder advice to Australian superfunds. This number was used to calculate the aggregate level of funds under advice inAustralia.PAGE 4CLIMATE CHANGE INVESTMENT INITIATIVE UPDATE – Asset Consultants Survey