Why collective action matters for pensions and the planet

Pooling knowledge and uniting investors gives companies the pressure and support they need to transform. Alejandro Bujanos, Vice President of Sustainable Investing at Afore SURA, explains why collaborative engagement is essential for protecting both financial returns and the world clients will retire into

The investment landscape is undergoing a fundamental shift in how corporate engagement is approached. Through our participation in the Climate Action 100+ Steering Committee, and by co-leading three of the four engagements with Mexican companies included among CA100+’s 169 global target firms, I have seen first-hand a truth emerge: collaborative engagement is not merely a strategic choice, but an imperative for systemic change that ultimately advances our mission of securing better pensions for our clients.

Collaborative platforms like Climate Action 100+ demonstrate remarkable resource efficiency. Rather than duplicating individual efforts, pooled resources enable deeper dialogue with portfolio companies. This extends beyond cost savings and transforms the quality of investor-company interactions.

Co-leading engagements with Mexican corporations reveals how the collective investor voice amplifies impact. Companies respond decisively to unified expectations representing trillions in assets, accelerating climate commitments and transition planning across critical sectors.

“Companies respond decisively to unified expectations representing trillions in assets.”

Knowledge sharing is equally invaluable. Investors benefit from shared methodologies and peer learning, while smaller institutions gain access to companies and can include their priorities in collaborative engagement agendas—opportunities they could never achieve individually. This democratisation creates knowledge transfer where emerging market investors learn global best practices while contributing local insights.

For pension funds, our client commitment extends beyond financial. A dignified retirement pension requires both robust risk-adjusted returns, which engagement helps achieve through better corporate governance and risk management, and a world worth retiring into. Climate risks, social inequalities, and governance failures threaten both portfolio performance and the quality of life our clients will experience in retirement.

For universal owners in their markets, engagement transcends portfolio optimisation and becomes essential for managing systemic risks. Without engagement driving real economy transformation, portfolio reallocation merely shuffles risk without addressing underlying challenges. Climate risk cannot be diversified away; it requires real economy decarbonisation that only engaged ownership catalyses.

“Climate risk cannot be diversified away; it requires real economy decarbonisation.”

This distinction between portfolio change and real economy change proves critical. Divestment might clean individual portfolios but fails to drive corporate transformations necessary for systemic risk mitigation. Collaborative engagement creates the pressure and support companies need for fundamental transitions, protecting both returns and the world our clients will inhabit.

Recognising Mexican companies’ underrepresentation in global initiatives, we spearheaded MxColab, Mexico’s own collaborative engagement platform. This initiative emerges from collaboration among key market players, with the Mexican Council for Sustainable Finance as technical secretariat and PRI providing steering committee advisory support.

MxColab represents evolution from global experience to locally tailored action. While initially focusing on climate change, it is designed as a multi-thematic platform addressing the full spectrum of sustainability challenges facing Mexican companies. This flexibility ensures evolution with market needs while maintaining proven collaborative principles.

Sustained engagement through CA100+ and MxColab transforms relationships. Regular dialogue evolves from risk discussions into strategic partnerships. Companies view engaged investors as partners navigating complex transitions, not adversaries.

“Companies view engaged investors as partners navigating complex transitions, not adversaries.”

This trust facilitates comprehensive corporate transformations, validating transition strategies, supporting capital allocation decisions, and enabling long-term business model evolution. These relationships become catalysts for fundamental change, driving transformations that might otherwise struggle for internal support or external validation.

Through Climate Action 100+, MxColab, and similar platforms, we see clearly that collaborative engagement adapted to local contexts drives real economy transformations. The Mexican experience demonstrates that united investors with clear expectations make even complex corporate transitions achievable.

Ultimately, this work reflects our fundamental responsibility: ensuring our clients can retire not just with adequate financial resources, but into a world where those resources provide genuine wellbeing. That is the purpose that guides me, and it is why collaborative engagement will remain at the heart of our strategy.

Further information
Produced with support from Afore SURA. To find out more about its collaborative engagement initiatives, visit https://afore.suramexico.com/afore/.

Alejandro Bujanos, Head of Sustainable Investment at Afore SURA Mexico. Alejandro Bujanos has over 13 years of experience in Mexico’s financial sector, particularly in the pension fund industry. He joined the SURA Asset Management team in 2012 and currently serves as Head of Sustainable Investment at Afore SURA. In this role, he is responsible for designing and implementing Afore SURA’s sustainable investment strategy, a task he carries out with a strong commitment to protect and manage clients’ and investors’ resources through a long-term sustainable approach. Alejandro holds a Bachelor’s degree in Actuarial Science and an MBA from Universidad Anáhuac. He is also a CFA charterholder and holds an ESG Investing certification from the CFA Institute.

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_{Main Image: Alejandro Bujanos}