PSS/CSS WIN UNITED NATIONS

ROYAL AWARD FOR RESPONSIBLE INVESTMENT

The Public Sector and Commonwealth Super Schemes (PSS/CSS) and its governance partner BT Financial Group (BT) were yesterday jointly awarded the Royal Award for Responsible Investment - an inaugural citation developed by The United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiatives (UNEP FI) and the Royal Awards for Sustainability.
Judged by an international committee, the award seeks to identify outstanding examples of corporate activity in the field of sustainability and socially responsible investment. The eight selection criteria include innovation in approaches to responsible investment, as well as company involvement, advocacy and engagement relating to corporate governance, accountability, transparency and reporting.

Presented in two tiers, PSS/CSS and BT are one of only three recipients world-wide to be given a prestigious first tier award.

PSS/CSS CEO Steve Gibbs said he was proud an Australian initiative had gained international recognition: "This provides further encouragement for our investment community to recognise opportunities to improve the value of long-term investments by incorporating sustainability into risk management."

This achievement follows the development of the Governance Advisory Service (GAS) in 2001, after an initial mandate from PSS/CSS to identify and mitigate potential social, environmental and corporate governance risks across the S&P/ASX200 Index.

The GAS plays a unique role in the Australian investment community, researching potential governance risk and entering into dialogue with companies and other stakeholders in relation to those risks with a focus on protecting and enhancing shareholder value over the long term.