A report in February last year from the Pensions and
Lifetime Savings Association suggested default funds for defined contribution (DC) pensions - which 90 per cent of DC savers subscribe to - are vulnerable to a range of environmental, social and governance
risks (ESG), including
substantial climate
risk.
In Japan, a system of
lifetime employment in many big businesses, a tradition of employer provided benefits such as housing in many cases, and a wage system in those kinds of businesses where workers receive a
substantial share of their annual income in the form of an annual bonus whose size can be used to buffer good and bad years for a company sharing
risks and rewards with workers instead of limiting the
risks and rewards to an investor class, have contributed to low levels of income inequality in the Japanese economy relative to comparably developed countries with comparable levels of government spending on welfare state type programs in other countries.