Pension funds, corporate responsibility and sustainability

The paper introduces two approaches to identify corporate behaviours that should attract the attention of pension funds in the context of debates over sustainability, while remaining within a narrow interpretation of their fiduciary duty. The approaches are based on two simple models of how different societal spheres interact with one another and influence long-term economic performance. These models allow exploring the idea that corporations can influence trajectories of societal change-keeping in mind that pension funds care about these trajectories because they care about the long-term performance of the economies in which they invest. The model underlying the internalising investor approach assumes that corporations are the only actors in society. In this model, pension funds will maximise their expected ability to meet their liabilities if companies internalise negative externalities and spill-over effects in order to reduce the cost of market failures for the economy as a whole. The model underlying the civic investor approach comprises companies and various actors (the state, NGOs, corporate stakeholders) engaged in shaping the governance structure that mediates the interaction between the social, environmental and economic spheres. In this model, pension funds will want companies to facilitate effective responses to societal problems. These approaches allow us to identify a number of corporate behaviours that should be of concern to pension funds.