Speaking on the decision, Vision Super chief executive Stephen Rowe said the board made the decision after seeking the views of members.
“We already had considerably lower carbon intensity than the index across our portfolio, because we don’t believe markets are pricing in carbon risk appropriately – which could put members’ money at risk,” Mr Rowe said.
“But thermal coal and tar sands are two of the biggest contributors to climate change, and we don’t believe the risk of continuing to use them can be mitigated. Report after report tells us that if we don’t act now to keep temperature increases contained, future generations will suffer. So the board made the decision to exclude these.
“We also looked at tobacco through the same lens, and concluded that it’s not possible to minimise the harm of a product that kills its users, and the people around them. So the decision was made to exclude tobacco too.”
