The idea of “resilience” as a word is that it promotes taking risks rather than than avoiding them. It is appearing all over the place and is a step forward from “de-risking”. Unlike the idea of avoiding climate change , it looks at making the best of what is heading our way.

We cannot run our pension funds to save the planet from climate change, that change is upon us and it is too late in 2026 to return to what we had say 50 years ago. I live in a City which 300 years ago used to have festivals on a frozen river Thames, climates do change and we need to be resilient to withstand what we failed to control.

Well that’s what I take from this joint paper from the University of Exeter and the recently re-purposed Cushon. The paper calls us pension schemes to invest in resilience. It points out what we can see around us,

physical climate risks are already affecting UK assets, while a lack of investable opportunities and government support is limiting the deployment of pension capital into climate resilience projects.

It called for improvements in four key areas to help develop a more investable UK climate adaptation market: better data on physical climate risks, a stronger pipeline of suitable projects, clearer government guidance and incentives, and greater coordination between policymakers, public finance institutions, pension schemes and asset managers.

This makes a lot of sense. It’s a new ways for CIOs, outsourced CIOs and Trustees to manage pension funds and Cushon, who have benefited over the past ten years from a fresh look at how our pension money is invested, continue to innovate. They are now owned by WTW rather than NatWest but their independence from their parent is gratifying and though their independence is in question by the scale conditions being imposed upon them, I hope that their thinking remains influential.

The employers who signed up to them for their promise of innovation in the management of climate , bought into a long-term vision of profiting from Cushon’s grasp of ESG and they deserve, for taking the brave step of investing member’s money to get the vision continued. “Resilience” is the perpetuation of a determination to keep our climate friendly to the generations who are yet to retire.

Pension Age spoke to Cushon about how this  resilience translates into better retirement income. Along with the work of Rob Gardner, it is testament to the care that exists within the  pension  investment community to do what isn’t being done elsewhere.

The suggestion is that pension schemes have a timeframe long enough to see financial benefit from investing in this way. Take this practical example which ties in

The analysis  identified the East of England as particularly exposed to multiple climate hazards, including flooding, heat stress and drought, highlighting potential risks to agricultural production, ports and energy infrastructure.

A year ago , this blog reported on a project initiated by Rob that argued that nature is an investable. The 1m oysters that his fund raising has focussed on are off the Norfolk coast.

It is good news that the momentum that has been started by Julius Pursaill at Cushon is being continued and it’s good that it is taking forward the ideas of Gardner’s  Rebalance Earth.

Against this backdrop, the report urged pension schemes to consider investment opportunities in resilient infrastructure, flood defences, heat protection, nature-based solutions and improvements to existing assets.

However, it acknowledged that many adaptation projects currently lack the scale, investment structures or commercial incentives needed to attract significant defined contribution (DC) pension investment.

The findings follow the first progress report on the Mansion House Accord, which revealed that £22.1bn of DC growth-phase assets were invested in private markets by the end of 2025.

Of this, £11.1bn went into UK private markets, with a further £3bn committed to UK deals but not yet deployed.

Cushon sustainability manager, Martin Logan, said

 “As a Mansion House Accord signatory, Cushon is committed to turning intent into investable allocations. Providers already have £11.1bn at work in UK private markets, which is a strong start, and the £3bn pipeline shows momentum is building.

“The next opportunity is resilience. Funding infrastructure and assets that can cope with a changing climate opens up long-term value creation for members and for the UK economy.”

Logan of Cushon warned that although physical climate risks were already affecting UK assets, the pipeline of pension-scale adaptation investments remained underdeveloped.

Let’s see if we can do something about that by moving towards a more sustainable investment strategy , one with an infinite investment horizon.