A new Working Group report from the International Centre for Pension Management shows that pension funds can strengthen their role in society while maintaining fiduciary integrity and financial sustainability. The Working Group, a collaboration of nearly twenty pension fund leaders from around the world, examines how funds can better recognize, govern, measure and communicate the wider value they already create for members and society, while remaining anchored in fiduciary duty.  

The report, “Social Infrastructure Blueprint: A Roadmap for Pension Funds,” presents a practical, evidence-based framework outlining how pension funds already function as social infrastructure, and how they can recognize, measure and strengthen that role.  It examines how pension funds can:

  • recognize and communicate the broader well-being benefits they already deliver to members beyond financial security;
  • pursue strategic initiatives that build on that foundation; and
  • measure and report those outcomes so that pension funds and policymakers can act on the evidence.

Understanding how pension funds build social infrastructure is especially important now, as aging populations and rising inequality are starting to strain public systems, and evolving member expectations challenge existing pension models,” says Gareth Gibbins, co-lead of the Working Group. “This Blueprint gives pension funds a practical, structured path to recognize that role, act on it, and measure it, without stepping outside their fiduciary mandate.

The full report can be found here.

A public webinar on the findings will be presented on June 24, 2026 at 10am ET. Registration and more details here.

Thank you to the Working Group members: Gareth Gibbins (Independent, Canada, lead author), Sally Shen (CPP Investments, Canada, lead author), Sebastien Betermier (ICPM and McGill University, Canada), Dean Blower (USS, UK), León Fernández de Castro (AFP Habitat, Chile), Chris Collins (Pension Protection Fund, UK), Mel Duffield (USS, UK), Frédéric Godbout (Desjardins Pension, Canada), Duncan Shand (AIMCo, Canada), Imran Hussainaly (LAPP, Canada), Alida Ladak (Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, Canada), Nicole Martel (LAPP, Canada), Ewan McCulloch (Border to Coast, UK), Alwin Oerlemans (APG, Netherlands), Faisal Siddiqi (FSRA, Canada), Stefan Strano (AustralianSuper, Australia), Paul Todd (Nest, UK), Jason White (OPTrust, Canada), Michael Winchester (Aware Super, Australia).

The views expressed herein shall not be attributed to, or deemed to represent the views, positions or policies of any affiliated organization, pension plan, institution, or ICPM.