In brief: MassPRIM creates ESG committee

Massachusetts Pension Reserves Investment Management has created an ESG committee to advise its board, following a proposal by treasurer Deborah Goldberg. The eight-member committee includes Goldberg, representatives of Massachusetts’ State Teachers’ and Employees Retirement boards and external investment advisers and asset managers.

MassPRIM has appointed Funston Advisory Services “on a very limited, narrow-scope engagement to develop a proposal for the ESG committee structure and charter,” chief operating officer Anthony Falzone said at a board meeting last week.

The fund has $92.4 billion in assets, with 18 percent allocated to private equity and 18 percent to real estate and agriculture. It is actively seeking diverse real estate managers to invest with and is “collaborating with the risk team on ESG and climate impact research, particularly in timberland”, chief investment officer Michael Trotsky said at a board meeting in February. That was the meeting at which Goldberg first proposed the ESG committee’s formation, but Trotsky did not say whether the committee would participate in this ESG research.