Superannuation fund, HESTA, has joined the movement to support tobacco-free investments, signing the Tobacco-Free Finance Pledge, which has 85 founding signatories, at the UN General Assembly in New York on 27 September.
CEO, Debby Blakey, said HESTA wanted to encourage more financial institutions to tackle the impact tobacco has on lives around the globe through divestment.
She said while the super industry led the world in excluding tobacco from their investments, there was still work to be done given more than half of Australia’s super funds (by funds under management) still invested in tobacco.
“Financial organisations can have such a positive impact on sustainable development and we’re starting to see this already with the focus on delivering on key UN Sustainable Development Goals,” she said.
The fund has hired a former ART executive as its new head of group strategy.
The sovereign wealth fund has revealed six internal hires to support the execution of key strategies.
The fund has announced the departure of a second senior executive in as many months, with its chief member officer to finish up mid-December.
The $89 billion fund has announced a new leadership role within its private markets team.