Overall Rating Gold
Overall Score 72.67
Liaison Aurora Sharrard
Submission Date Feb. 13, 2024

STARS v2.2

University of Pittsburgh
PA-11: Investment Disclosure

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 0.00 / 1.00 John Kaye
Managing Director of Endowment Operations
Endowment Accounting & Administration
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Does the institution make a snapshot of its investment holdings available to the public?:
Yes

None
A copy of the investment holdings snapshot:
Website URL where the investment holdings snapshot is publicly available:
Percentage of the total investment pool included in the snapshot of investment holdings at each of the following levels of detail:
Percentage (0-100)
Specific funds and/or companies 0
Investment managers and/or basic portfolio composition (i.e. asset classes), but not specific funds or companies 100

Does the institution engage in proxy voting?:
No

Are proxy voting records included in the snapshot of investment holdings?:
No

Optional Fields 

Website URL where information about the institution’s investment pool is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
---

Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
Information provided by Office of Finance, November 2023

• FY22 Pitt Consolidated Endowment Fund ESG Report (2023) - https://www.cfo.pitt.edu/sites/default/files/esg_report_2023-final_0.pdf
• FY21 Pitt Consolidated Endowment Fund ESG Report (2022) - this link is to the 2nd edition or FY 22 https://www.cfo.pitt.edu/sites/default/files/esg_report_final.pdf
• University of Pittsburgh’s FY23 Endowment referenced in annual audited financial report – https://www.controller.pitt.edu/wp-content/uploads/AFS-FY-2023-FINAL.pdf
• Board of Trustees Statement of Governance - https://www.trustees.pitt.edu/sites/default/files/osec-docs/2023_01_25_statement_of_governance_-_amended_and_restated_-_final.pdf

ESG POLICY
In March 2020, the University of Pittsburgh’s Office of Finance established an Environmental, Social, and Governance Policy (ESG Policy) in March 2020, which will help inform investment decisions related to the institution’s Consolidated Endowment Fund.

The ESG Policy offers a systematic way for fund managers to make investment decisions after considering a range of factors, including: energy efficiency and use, hazardous materials management, water and land management, data protection and privacy, human rights, labor standards, product safety, regulatory compliance, business ethics and adherence to auditing standards.

PROXY VOTING
As documented in Credit PA-10, the University outsources proxy voting to our external (and global) investment managers, 87% of which had formal ESG Policies and/or considered ESG in FY22. The University currently uses and will continue to consider active investment managers who take into account environmental and sustainability factors when making investment decisions on behalf of the University.

As described in the Statement of Governance for the Consolidated Endowment Fund, the Investment Committee believes that the Investment Managers employed by the University are best suited to vote the proxies of shares held in the portfolios they manage. Therefore, responsibility for voting such proxies is delegated to the respective Investment Managers (Page 12, Statement of Governance, https://www.trustees.pitt.edu/sites/default/files/osec-docs/2023_01_25_statement_of_governance_-_amended_and_restated_-_final.pdf).

REFERENCES
• University of Pittsburgh’s Consolidated Endowment Fund (CEF) Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) Policy Statement: https://www.cfo.pitt.edu/sites/default/files/esgpolicyfinal3-25-20_0.pdf
• University of Pittsburgh Office of Finance ESG webpage – https://www.cfo.pitt.edu/divisions/office-finance/environmental-social-and-governance-esg-investment-considerations-pitt

The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.