In Australia employer contributions to employee superannuation funds have been compulsory since 1990. And according to Macquarie Bank, Australia now has a superannuation pool of $1.2 trillion, which makes it the country with the second largest pool of investible funds in the world, following Japan. What’s more, it’s still growing.

This is good news for advocates of CSR. Increasingly, the organisations that manage these funds are beginning to take social and environmental considerations into account when assessing companies they choose to invest in.

With a pool of $1.2 trillion, it is clear that pension fund managers and trustees have the potential to become major influencers of corporate behaviour. They have the means to provide the next pressure point on business to drive increased standards of social and environmental responsibility.

Upcoming Ethical Corporation conferences & events:
How to manage Social & Environmental Risk in the mining, oil & gas, steel and other heavy industries
London, 22-23 March 2010 The Responsible Business Summit 2010
Novotel West Hotel, London, 4th – 5th May 2010 The Inaugural Ethical Corporation Awards
Novotel West Hotel, London, Evening of 4th May 2010
The Awards will be held at the Responsible Summit -
on the evening of the first day
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