“There are very substantial assets invested in Guernsey-based pension plans,” he said. “Investing these assets responsibly and sustainably can make a significant contribution to improving the environment.

"Indeed, generally speaking, a pension plan member can make a much greater contribution to combatting climate change by investing their pension assets responsibly than by ceasing air travel or adopting a vegan diet."

“Pension plan members are starting to question how their pension assets are being invested and are demanding ESG-friendly options.

“As a result, the GAPP committee decided to create a specialist ESG committee to research the issues. We rapidly concluded that the guidance should be within an overarching framework, and so we needed to start with that.

“Guernsey has for many years been the leading location for international retirement and savings plans and has provided thought leadership in the international pensions space. The ESG Framework is just the latest aspect in this ongoing development.”

The GAPP framework is likely to be similar to the Guernsey International Insurance Association’s (GIIA) framework, with sections on governance, benefit provision, investments and reporting.

"We were aware of the insurance framework developed by GIIA and the positive reaction that there had been to its publication. And because of the many similarities between insurance business and pensions business, this seemed like a good place to start. 

“When we looked at the GIIA framework in detail we felt that several of the concepts were equally as valid for pensions as insurance. We have met with GIIA and have been encouraged by their reaction when they learned that we might develop a parallel framework for pensions.”