Responsible investment policies
Caisse des Dépôts develops responsible investment policies with the funds it manages : its financial portfolios, regulated savings funds.
The French Pension Reserve Fund (Fonds de réserve pour les retraites (FRR)), the French public service additional pension scheme (Régime additionnel de la Fonction publique (Erafp)), both managed by Caisse des Dépôts, and CNP Assurances, its subsidiary, are also responsible investors.
A signatory of the UN Principles for Responsible Investment, Caisse des Dépôts integrates the environmental, social and governance issues according to the methods suitable for each class of assets.
A long-term responsibility
The investment roles, approved by Caisse des Dépôts’ supervisory board, implicate formal commitments:
- Act as a socially-responsible long-term investor,
- Take into consideration the environmental and social issues, the development of the employee stock ownership plan, and the encouragement of research and development.
- Get involved in the companies of which it is a shareholder. How? By attending general meetings and even boards of directors, if its participation is considered strategic. In this case, particular attention is given to the strengthening in France of policy and research centres, to the development of the employee stock ownership plan, and to the consideration of the issue of sustainable development.
- Ensure that the environmental, social and governance issues are taken well into consideration for general interest investments outside the market.
Action roles
International commitments
Caisse des Dépôts participates with other large investors in national and international think tanks, notably in order to set the standards for socially responsible investment.
It is a signatory of the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), which it actively helped to launch in 2005 and 2006, under the aegis of the United Nations.
It has participated in the success of this international initiative and in its diffusion to French institutional investors.
The annual reporting required by the PRI gives the opportunity for fruitful exchanges with the other signatories, notably the big pension funds and the international reserve funds.
Regular meetings and working groups make the PRI an influential and lively initiative, which goes beyond the simple enforcement of the principles.
The French Pension Reserve Fund (Fonds de réserve pour les retraites (FRR)) and the French Public Service Additional Pension Scheme (Etablissement de Retraite additionnelle de la Fonction publique (Erafp)) are signatories of the PRI too.
Within the framework of the United Nations Environment Programme, Caisse des Dépôts works on the application of these principles in the property sector.
Since 2000, Caisse des Dépôts has been a very active member of the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI), aiming to encourage finance professionals to adopt the best environmental practices.
It co-chairs the Responsible Property Investment working group and is therefore represented in the UNEP FI Steering Committee.
