APG, CalSTRS, CDPQ and USS among asset owners joining mining group’s $11trn investor base

The UN-backed Global Investor Commission on Mining 2030 (GICM), has disclosed that a host of asset owners from the Netherlands, UK and Canada have joined the relatively young industry group that aims to drive sustainability within the mining sector.

Adam Matthews, the current chair of the (GICM) told this publication that Dutch pension fund APG, Canadian fund CDPQ, US pension giant fund CalSTRS, UK's Scottish Widows and Britain's largest pension fund USS recently became members. 

Moreover, Matthews, who is also chief responsible Investment officer of the Church of England Pensions Board, said a number of large asset managers have also signed up, including LGIM, Abrdn, Aviva, South African manager Ninety One and the Australian Council for Superannuation Investors.

The group's investor base has now grown to 82, collectively holding $11 trillion in assets, he added.

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Matthews called his coalition's growing investor base "a unique opportunity to step back and consider how investors value, steward and invest for the long-term in a sector whose time horizons are multi-decadal and often at odds with short term investment pressure."

 “Twinned with this will be a consideration of the role of investors in supporting the alignment and consolidation of best practice standards on the key issues that challenge the sector as well as the role of addressing existing and future conflict that can be caused or exacerbated by extraction” he added.

Matthews said members of the Mining 2030 Commission, which was launched earlier this year, plan to meet monthly, with 24 Commissioners representing investors from different parts of the world as well as a host of mining stakeholder groups.

He pointed out the GICM is advised by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and backed by the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI).

He stressed Commissioners come from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), ING Bank, mining company Newmont, the Indigenous People’s Advisory Forum (IPAF), IndustriALL Global Union, London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) and the Brumadinho community.

"As Commissioners they will contribute to the development of a vision for the future of mining that will specifically consider how investors value, invest and steward the sector to meet future demand in a socially and environmentally responsible manner," Matthews said.

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