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Investing in a net zero future by 2050

As a long-term savings and retirement business, we hold money on behalf of our policyholders and shareholders, which is invested in assets such as stocks, shares and bonds.

Each investment we make forms part of our investment portfolio and equates to part ownership of a company or asset and a proportion of its carbon footprint.

When we add together the carbon footprint of all the investments across our portfolio, it equates to 99% of our total emissions. By taking action to reduce emissions across our investments, we can have the greatest impact.

We aim to do this by influencing the companies we’re already invested in to take action to reduce their emission and by investing in low-emitting companies and sectors, and those committed to helping to deliver a net zero future.

And we’ll tilt our investments away from companies who we believe don’t have a credible net zero plan. All future actions will be carefully reviewed to ensure decisions are always made in the best interests of our customers.

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Our investment targets

We aim to achieve net zero across our full investment portfolio by 2050 and have set ourselves interim targets for 2025 and 2030 to ensure we are on track. We already have firm plans in place to reduce the emissions of more than £65 billion of assets.

And over the course of 2024-25, we are looking to introduce strategies to reduce emissions across the remaining parts of our £160 billion investments in stock exchange listed shares and credit portfolios.

Influencing behaviour

As a significant shareholder in many companies around the world, we have the power to positively influence their behaviour. That’s why we have developed a programme to engage and support companies with their action to reduce emissions.

During 2022 we started working with companies we invest in to support and monitor their net zero transition efforts. We will provide targeted engagement to 25 high priority companies which were selected based on their sector, current emissions and action to date on climate change, as part of three years of dialogue which began in late 2022.

We are also working with our asset management partners to indirectly engage and influence the behaviour of hundreds of other companies we invest in. 

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Investment in climate solutions

We are committed to increasing our investment in climate solutions to deliver net zero by 2050. The opportunity is huge: it is estimated that around £2.4 trillion of investment will be required by 2035 to meet the UK’s emission reduction goals. And the pension industry has the potential to fund up to half of this investment.

Our approach to investing in climate solutions encompasses investment in climate solution funds, investment in venture capital funds and direct investment in companies. We have already invested nearly £1.5 billion of our capital in climate solutions since 2022. And we could invest up to £40 billion in sustainable, transition and productive assets, including climate solutions that will support the climate change agenda, economic growth and prosperity over the long term, but to do this, we’ll need the right regulatory and policy framework enabling access to transformative investment projects that offer an attractive returns profile.

 

Our journey to net zero

We continue to build, refine and share our net zero plans, considering the evolving landscape and the latest guidance. While the journey ahead is by no means a straightforward one, we are taking action now to achieve net zero and help create a sustainable future for us all.