Select a language:  English Français Español Campaign to encourage the $21 billion United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund (UNJSPF) to use socially and environmentally responsible criteria in making its investment decisions Below is the text of a letter addressed to to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and to Bernard Cochemé, CEO of the UN pension fund, UNJSPF. You can send the text as is or modify it to add your own comments. You will also need to fill-in the required fields below before you can submit the campaign. Campaign Text H.E. Kofi Annan Secretary-General United Nations United Nations Plaza New York, NY 10017 Mr. Bernard Cochemé Chief Executive Officer United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund United Nations Plaza New York, NY 10017 Dear Sirs: I am writing to seek your help in promoting the use of socially and environmentally responsible criteria by the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund in its investment decisions. With $21.8 billion in assets as of 2002, UNJSPF ranks as one of the largest and most influential pension funds in the world with total assets larger than the GNP of each of the smallest 83 countries in the world. This represents a unique opportunity for UNJSPF to set a worldwide standard by adopting investment guidelines that promote the welfare of our planet and its people. It is my undertsanding that UNJSPF is not currently using any socially or environmentally responsible guidelines in making investment decisions. As you may know, however, the adoption of socially responsible investment guidelines by large pension funds is increasingly becoming common practice. As you know, these guidelines generally include two broad types of strategies: 1) screening, i.e. the inclusion or exclusion of corporate securities in investment portfolios based on social and/or environmental criteria. As explained by Calvert, one of the oldest and largest socially responsible US mutual funds, SRI investors using screens generally seek to own profitable companies with respectable employee relations, strong records of community involvement, excellent environmental impact policies and practices, respect for human rights around the world, and safe and useful products. Conversely, they often avoid investments in those firms that fall short in these areas, especially in the tobacco, arms manufacturers, military contractors, alcohol and gambling sectors. 2) shareholder activism, i.e. the use of shareholder resolutions, the threat and/or use of legal action and other various techniques to promote the improvement of corporate governance by the companies whose shares socially responsible investors own. Whereas screening involves the rejection of companies that do not meet certain criteria, shareholder activism involves the inclusion of those very same companies with the objective of changing them from within. Many of the above principles and criteria mirror those promoted by the United Nations. For instance, the nine Global Compact Principles that Secretary-General Kofi Annan presented at the World Economic Forum in 1999 closely reflect many of the concerns shared by socially and environmentally responsible investors. I therefore urge you in your respective capacities as Secretary-General of the UNited Nations and CEO of UNJSPF to recommend the following: 1) UNJSPF should immediately initiate the process by which socially and environmentally responsible guidelines will be adopted in the most feasible future. This process involves developing the guidelines themselves under the guidance of basic UN principles in areas such as human rights, the environment and labor laws. The process should be transparent and public, involving a broad range of internal and external stakeholders, including UNJSPF participants themselves. The types of sectors and/or companies excluded through screening techniques or the guidelines for shareholder activism should be clearly outlined as a result of this process. 2) UNJSPF should thereafter promote the resulting guidelines throughout its publications and communications as a standard setting tool for other funds in the private and public sectors; 3) It should implement a process by which future guidelines are reviewed on an on-going basis to incorporate newly developed best practices in the field of Socially and Environmentally Responsible Investing; 4) It should clearly highlight the internal and external auditing measures it will take to ensure that guidelines are routinely respected; 5) Finally, it should clearly outline the remedial procedures available in case of non-compliance. I trust you will agree with me that this situation presents a tremendous opportunity for the United Nations, in the words of its Charter, "to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom." I thank you very much for taking this important matter into consideration. Sincerely yours, E-mail Subject Heading Full Name E-mail Address PRIVACY STATEMENT: Your e-mail address will not be shared with other organizations. It will only be used for the purpose of this email campaign. © Copyright UN Observer.org 2003-2004. UN Observer.org is not part of the United Nations system. Pictures courtesy of the UN photo library.