Trustees and advisers are being offered extra help as they work through comprehensive new duties on climate-related governance and reporting.
The Pensions Regulator (TPR) has today (Wednesday 23 February) published an illustrative example which charts how the trustees of the fictitious XYZ pension scheme might approach meeting the requirements of the new climate-related regulations.
The example seeks to address specific requests for more information and examples received by TPR from the pensions industry during its eight-week consultation on its guidance on governance and reporting of climate-related risks and opportunities.
It is intended to help develop understanding of how trustees and advisers might approach implementing the requirements of the new regulations at a practical level. The example provides information relevant to trustees and advisers of any scheme seeking to comply with the new regulations.
David Fairs, TPR’s Executive Director of Regulatory Policy, Analysis and Advice, said: “We expect this example will prove helpful to trustees and other industry stakeholders as they get to grips with the new, climate-related regulations.
“From October more schemes are set to come into the scope of these rules, so I also urge trustees and advisers of those schemes to make sure they are familiar with the relevant guidance in this area.
“Those running schemes out of scope of the rules but who want to do more to manage climate-related risks and opportunities may also find both our new example and final guidance helpful.”
The rules initially apply to authorised schemes and those with relevant assets of £5 billion or more but will also start to apply to schemes with relevant assets of £1 billion or more from 1 October.
The Department for Work and Pensions has said it will consider whether to roll the rules out to smaller schemes in 2023.
TPR also plans to contact trustees of schemes that may have moved into scope of the rules since their last valuation to ensure they are aware of their duties.
Notes for editors
- TPR published its guidance describing what trustees need to do and report on to comply with the new, climate-related regulations, last December. It gives practical examples of how trustees might seek to comply with the regulations. An appendix to TPR’s monetary penalty policy, published at the same time as the guidance, highlights the enforcement approach that TPR intends to take where there are breaches.
- The Pensions Regulator is the regulator of work-based pension schemes in the UK. Our statutory objectives are: to protect members’ benefits; to reduce the risk of calls on the Pension Protection Fund (PPF); to promote, and to improve understanding of, the good administration of work-based pension schemes; to maximise employer compliance with automatic enrolment duties; and to minimise any adverse impact on the sustainable growth of an employer (in relation to the exercise of the regulator’s functions under Part 3 of the Pensions Act 2004 only).
Press contacts
Out of hours
This is for journalists only with a media enquiry. The below number will divert to our on call media officer.pressoffice@tpr.gov.uk
01273 648496
