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As a business we’re on a journey to net zero by 2050 and we have started taking actions to achieve this. While we currently invest in high emitting companies and sectors, we have developed a climate action plan to transition to net zero across our business. We believe we can help our customers reduce their exposure to climate related risk and help them take advantage of the opportunities presented by the net zero transition. Full details can be found in our Net Zero Transition Plan:

We have a 3-part strategy: 

  • Invest – Investing for the future 
  • Engage – Engaging to multiply our impact 
  • Lead – Aiming to lead by example

Delivering good customer outcomes
Our customers are at the heart of our plan and our actions are aligned with delivering good customer outcomes. Our analysis shows that, in the long term, failing to decarbonise our portfolio will likely expose our customers to increased risk and will lead to less resilient investment portfolios. We also believe that companies whose business models align with a net zero transition are more likely to benefit from the growth opportunities presented by a low carbon future.

Read our Net Zero Transition Plan to find out more about our approach to decarbonising our investment portfolio, own operations and supplier base.

When customers pay into their pension, that money is invested to ensure that they have an adequate pot to live on, by retirement. Some people choose to make their own decisions about how their pension is invested, but many rely on their pension company to do this for them. The ways in which this money is invested, and then how those investments are used, can have a significant impact on helping to address climate change

Our targets and progress to date
We’ve made progress since publishing our Net Zero Transition Plan in 2023. We are building momentum on our journey to net zero by 2050.

We have taken action in our investment portfolio, operations and supplier base and we are now building on these foundations to achieve real scale. We believe we will be on track to achieve our 2025 interim targets for listed equity and credit assets and our own operations under most scenarios if we implement the actions to which we have committed.

Our ability to meet our 2030 and 2050 targets is less certain. It is likely we will need to take further action and we will become increasingly dependent on decarbonisation in the wider economy and action by others, in particular governments, regulators, companies in high emitting sectors and our suppliers.

Some of our key achievements in 2024:

  • Believed to be the first pension provider to proactively align to the Financial Conduct Authority’s (‘FCA’) Sustainability ImproversTM Label1 for eight funds that form the building blocks of our Sustainable Multi Asset default pension solution, improving outcomes for c.2m customers2 

  • Achieved an 80% reduction in the emissions intensity of our operations3 

  • Achieved a 52% reduction in the emissions intensity of our listed asset portfolio3 

  • Published the “Charting the UK’s Net Zero Future” policy paper, highlighting key recommendations to government to help catalyse the net zero transition 

1 FCA’s Sustainability Disclosure Requirements (‘SDR’).
2 Standard Life expects to implement this approach in early 2025 with over 75% of Sustainable Multi Asset investments benefiting from a formal objective to align with the transition to Net Zero by 2050, while complying with the new regulatory threshold.
3 Relative to 2019 baseline.

Definition of commonly used net zero terms

When businesses look to explain their climate impact, the language can be complex. We’ve defined some of the common terms that you’ll find in our Net Zero Transition Plan to help make our plans accessible to everyone.

  • Assets under administration (AUA): Measure of the total assets, pension and savings products, for which a financial institution provides administrative services and charges a fee for doing so.
  • Carbon footprint: A carbon footprint is the total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions caused by an individual, event, organisation, service, place or product, expressed as carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e).
  • Financed emissions: Greenhouse gas emissions that occur as a result of financing, including lending and investment activity. These activities fall within Scope 3, category 15 of the GHG protocol.
  • Net zero: A state where we add no incremental greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. Emissions output is balanced with removal of carbon from the atmosphere.
  • Listed credit: Debt issued by a company in order for it to raise capital used to invest.
  • Listed equity: Shares in companies that are listed on a stock exchange so that they can be bought or sold.
  • Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions: Greenhouse gas emissions are categorised into three groups or ‘Scopes’.
    • Scope 1 covers direct emissions e.g. use of natural gas, company car vehicle emissions.
    • Scope 2 covers indirect emissions from the generation of purchased electricity, steam and heating.
    • Scope 3 includes 15 other categories of indirect emissions in a company’s value chain e.g. business travel and investments.
  • Stewardship: The use of the rights and position of ownership to influence the activity or behaviour of investee companies. For listed equities it includes both engagement and (proxy) voting (including filing shareholder resolutions). For other asset classes, engagement is still relevant while voting is not. Engagement is a two-way interaction between the investor and investees in relation to corporate business and ESG strategies with the goal of influencing issuers' practices when needed to unlock value.