This paper co-authored & edited jointly by M. Nicolas J. Firzli, David Weeks and the Hon. Nicholas Sherry looks at the twin notions of asset ownership and EESG-driven investment in relation to the emerging financial policy agenda of the 47th G7 Summit (Carbis Bay Summit) from the perspective of G7 and Australian pension investors and board members (trustees), which were discussed notably at two recent global conferences organised by the Singapore Economic Forum (SEF) and the G7 Pensions Summit (G7 P7).Here, the authors use the term ‘EESG’ coined by former Delaware Supreme Court Justice Leo E. Strine Jr. to emphasize employees and workers’ rights dynamics – also a section of the present article based on recent interviews with Dr. David H. Webber, Boston University School of Law.Dr. Webber also co-chaired the Roundtable on The Framework for Inclusive Capitalism with, inter alia, Renaye Manley, fmr. member, Advisory Board, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago (FRBC), Daniel Pedrotty, Director, North America's Building Trades Unions (NABTU) and Deborah Goldberg, Treasurer & Receiver General, State of Massachusetts, Chair, Mass. Pension Reserves Investment Management (PRIM), the $ 90 bn. public employees and teachers’ pension fund.Weeks, Sherry and Firzli explain that the ‘greenium’ phenomenon observed recently in most financial markets means most green bonds now trade with a lower yield than comparable conventional bonds, a natural reflection of changing risk/return perceptions, “most notably from the part of employee-nominated pension board members in G7 nations [plus Singapore and Australia], who represent broad cross-sections of society at large.”They argue that this recent trend represents yet another sign of the progressive transition towards asset owners-led financial markets or “fiduciary capitalism.”The authors also look at recent developments in Green Bonds, Social Bonds, Real Assets & Financial Innovation, the title of the keynote address delivered by Bertrand de Mazières, DG Finance, European Investment Bank (EIB), the Luxembourg-based European Union development finance institution and the world’s leading supranational issuer of fixed income instruments. Mr. de Mazières insists on the dual role played by sustainability-driven fixed income investments: not only do they fund additional infrastructure projects, but they also induce issuers, institutional investors, and governments alike to adopt (E)ESG-informed approaches more systematically, across the board. David Zahn, Head of Sustainable Fixed Income, Franklin Templeton, shares the findings of his ongoing research work on ESG in bond markets, focusing on the United Kingdom and the EU. In that context, variations by country always have some (degree of) relevance. So, too, have considerations relating to the drivers of expected excess return (or ‘alpha’ themes) as an investment criterion. These two taken together, geography (“countries and governments”) and alpha dynamics, help to form a broader picture. The authors observe that the notion of reindustrialization is now “moving center stage in the United States, Britain and Australia: a powerful investment trend that can only gain more momentum in the coming quarters” […] insisting that “reindustrialization will also benefit from the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), intensifying Sino-American competition and the employee-led fiduciary awakening”, making it one of the central features of the Fifth Industrial Revolution (FIR). The nascent “Biden Doctrine” is also analysed from the perspective of pension investors, notably as put forward by U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, a venture capital and private equity veteran, and keen proponent of the notion of industrial renaissance. In many ways, Ms. Raimondo’s bold approach to trade and economic strategy echoes the prevailing view amongst China’s leading policy thinkers: more developmentalist than neoliberal, thus, perhaps, marking the end of four decades of laissez-faire? Finally, the authors shed light on the unprecedented presence of APAC powers Australia, India and South Korea at the 47th G7, to be held in Carbis Bay, Cornwall, 11–13 June 2021. This constitutes “a significant strategic decision acknowledging the need to strengthen financial ties to the Eurasia-Pacific nations whose economies now constitute the engines of global growth”The upcoming G7 Pensions dialogue held in London and via video-link 11 June 2021, on the sidelines of the 47th G7, is also discussed succinctly in the last section, including the session on ‘Long Term Investment, Climate Finance & The Firm of the Future’
