# The Occupational Pension Schemes (Climate Change Governance and Reporting) (Amendment, Modification and Transitional Provision) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2022, Note: Explanatory note

Extent: N.I.

(This note is not part of the Regulations)
These Regulations make amendments and modifications to the Occupational Pension Schemes (Climate Change Governance and Reporting) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2021 (“the Climate Change Regulations”). They also make transitional provision.
Regulation 2(2) amends Part 1 of the Schedule to the Climate Change Regulations to introduce a requirement that trustees must select and calculate a portfolio alignment metric for the assets of their scheme. A portfolio alignment metric is a metric which gives the alignment of the scheme’s assets with the goal of limiting the increase in the global average temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsiusabove pre-industrial levels.
Regulation 2(3) amends paragraph 27(n) in Part 2 of the Schedule to the Climate Change Regulations to require that trustees include specified information about their portfolio alignment metric in the report they are required to produce and publish under regulation 6 of the Climate Change Regulations.
Regulation 3 makes modifications to Part 1 of the Schedule to the Climate Change Regulations, for the purposes of amendments made to those Regulations by regulation 2, for trustees who were subject to the requirements in Part 1 of the Schedule to the Climate Change Regulations before the date on which these Regulations come into operation and who have not ceased to be subject to the requirements before that date.
Regulation 4 makes modifications to Part 1 of the Schedule to the Climate Change Regulations, for the purposes of amendments made to those Regulations by regulation 2, for trustees who were subject to the requirements in Part 1 of the Schedule to the Climate Change Regulations before the date on which these Regulations come into operation but who cease to be subject to the requirements before that date, where such trustees subsequently become subject to those requirements by virtue of regulation 3(4), 4(4) or 5(4) of the Climate Change Regulations.
Regulation 5 makes transitional provision. It provides that the amendment made by regulation 2(3) does not apply in respect of a scheme year which ends before 1st October 2022 as trustees are not required to calculate a portfolio alignment metric in scheme years ending before that date.
The Pension Schemes Act 2021 (Commencement No. 1) Order (Northern Ireland) 2021 (S.R. 2021 No. 240 (C. 8)) provides for the coming into operation of paragraph 12(2) of Schedule 11 to the Pension Schemes Act 2021, which inserts Articles 41A and 41B into the Pensions (Northern Ireland) Order 1995, some of the enabling provisions under which these Regulations are made, on 1st September 2021.
As these Regulations make in relation to Northern Ireland only provision corresponding to provision contained in regulations made by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in relation to Great Britain, the requirement to consult under Article 117(1) of the Pensions (Northern Ireland) Order 1995 does not apply by virtue of paragraph (2)(e) of that Article.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/nisr/2022/209/note (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/occupational-pension-schemes-climate-change-governance-and-reporting-amendment-modification-and-transitional-provision-regulations-northern-ireland-2022/note
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.