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The Komatsu UK Staff Pension Scheme

Annual Engagement Policy Implementation Statement (to 31 March 2021)

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1. Introduction

This Engagement Policy Implementation Statement (‘the Statement’) sets out how, and the extent to which, the Engagement Policy in the Statement of Investment Principles (‘SIP’) produced by the Trustee has been followed during the year to 31 March 2021. This statement has been produced in accordance with The Pension Protection Fund (Pensionable Service) and Occupational Pension Schemes (Investment and Disclosure) (Amendment and Modification) Regulations 2018 and the subsequent amendment in The Occupational Pension Schemes (Investment and Disclosure) (Amendment) Regulations 2019, which transposes the EU Shareholder Rights Directive (SRD II) into UK law.

Section 2 of this Statement provides detail of the actions taken by the Trustee to meet the Scheme’s engagement policies set out in the SIP over the year. Section 3 describes the voting behaviour on behalf of the Trustee along with the relevant statistics over the year.

By adopting Mercer’s Cashflow Driven Investment (“CDI”), Mercer Limited (Mercer) in the UK has been appointed as discretionary investment manager by the Trustee. Pursuant to that appointment, scheme monies are invested in Mercer Funds, which are collective investment vehicles, managed by Mercer Global Investments Europe Limited (MGIE).

 

2. Policy on ESG, Stewardship and Climate Change

The Scheme’s SIP includes the Trustee‘s policy on Environmental, Social and Governance (‘ESG’) factors, stewardship and climate change. This policy sets out the Trustee‘s beliefs on ESG and climate change and the processes followed by the Trustee in relation to voting rights and stewardship.

In order to establish the Trustee’s beliefs and produce the policy in the SIP, the Trustee undertook training provided by its investment consultant, Mercer, on responsible investment which covered ESG factors, stewardship, climate change and the approach undertaken by Mercer and MGIE.

As noted in the SIP, the Trustee believes that environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) factors may have a material impact on investment risk and return outcomes, and that good stewardship can create and preserve value for companies and markets as a whole. The Trustee also recognises that long-term sustainability issues, particularly climate change, present risks and opportunities that increasingly may require explicit consideration.

As noted above, the Trustee has appointed Mercer to act as discretionary investment manager in respect of the Scheme’s assets and such assets are invested in a range of Mercer Funds managed by MGIE. Asset managers appointed to manage the Mercer Funds are expected to evaluate ESG factors where appropriate, including climate change considerations, in accordance with their own corporate governance policies and current best practice, including the UK Corporate Governance Code and UK Stewardship Code.

The Trustee considers how ESG, climate change and stewardship is integrated within Mercer’s, and MGIE’s, investment processes and those of the underlying asset managers in the monitoring process. Mercer, and MGIE, is expected to provide reporting to the Trustee on a regular basis, at least annually, on ESG integration progress, stewardship monitoring results, and climate-related metrics.

The following work was undertaken during the year relating to the Trustee‘s policy on ESG factors, stewardship and climate change, and sets out how the Trustee‘s engagement and voting policies were followed and implemented during the year.

Policy Updates

  • The Trustee considers how ESG, climate change and stewardship is integrated within Mercer’s, and MGIE’s, investment processes and those of the underlying asset managers in the monitoring process. Mercer, and MGIE, have provided reporting to the Trustee on a regular basis.
  • The Mercer Sustainability Policy is reviewed regularly. In August 2020 the Stewardship section was updated to reflect an enhanced approach to monitoring both voting and engagement as well as the Exclusions section to include the implementation of certain exclusions across passive funds from 1 October 2020. In March 2021 there was a further update in relation to sustainability–related disclosures in the financial services sector (“SFDR”) implementation.
  • In line with the requirements of the EU Shareholder Rights Directive II, Mercer have implemented a standalone Engagement Policy to specifically address the requirements of the directive.

ESG Rating Review

  • ESG ratings assigned by Mercer (and its affiliates’) global manager research team, are included in the investment performance reports produced by Mercer on a quarterly basis and reviewed by the Trustee. ESG ratings are reviewed by MGIE during quarterly monitoring processes, with a more comprehensive review performed annually - which seeks evidence of positive momentum on ESG integration. Since Q3 2020 the quarterly performance report has included the Mercer funds overall ESG rating compared to the appropriate universe of strategies in Mercer’s global investment manager database.
  • As at 31 December 2020 the Trustee noted that 95% of Mercer Funds now have an ESG rating equal to or above their asset class universe, a 10% improvement on 2019.

Update to Exclusions

  • As an overarching principle, Mercer and MGIE, as the Trustee’s discretionary investment manager, prefer an approach of positive engagement rather than negative divestment. However Mercer and MGIE recognises that there are a number of cases in which investors deem it unacceptable to profit from certain areas and therefore exclusions will be appropriate.
  • Controversial and civilian weapons, and tobacco are excluded from active fixed income funds.
  • In addition, Mercer and MGIE monitors for high-severity breaches of the UN Global Compact (UNGC) Principles that relate to human rights, environmental and corruption issues.

3. Voting Activity

The Trustee’s investments take the form of shares or units in the Mercer Funds. Any voting rights that do apply with respect to the underlying investments attached to the Mercer Funds are, ultimately, delegated to the third party investment managers appointed by MGIE. The Trustee’s investment strategy does not include an allocation to equities and, as such, there are typically no voting rights assigned to their holdings.