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Our journey to net zero

We’re on a journey to becoming a net zero business 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 model to transition to net zero across our business, full details of which can be found in our Net Zero Transition Plan:

  • Invest: We are decarbonising our investment portfolio, working with investees and asset managers to drive down emissions through the effective stewardship of our assets, and investing in the growing companies and sectors of the future.
  • Engage: We want to use our insight and knowledge to lead the debate on key climate-related challenges. This includes working with government, non-governmental organisations and across our industry and the economy to remove the barriers to net zero investment and define best practice.
  • Lead: We are focused on working to reduce our direct emissions in our operations, and reduce our wider impacts by working collaboratively with our supplier base.

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 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.

Our targets and progress to date

We have set targets across our investment portfolio, operations and supplier base to ensure we transition to net zero by 2050 or sooner.

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 interim 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 and companies in high-emitting sectors.
  • We believe science-based targets are vital if we are to respond to the climate challenge and have engaged with a wide range of standards and framework setting initiatives. Our targets are aligned with the target-setting protocol developed by the Net Zero Asset Owners Alliance (‘NZAOA’) and we are not currently seeking validation from the SBTi.

Area

% Group carbon footprint

Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Measure/coverage

Baseline (2019)

2024

2025 target

2030 target

2050 target

Investment portfolio

99%

Scope 3: Other indirect GHG emissions

Category 15: Investments

24.3 MtCO2e

12.4 MtCO2e

Reduce the carbon emissions intensity of our listed equity and credit assets where we exercise control and influence by 25%

Reduce the carbon emissions intensity of our investments where we exercise control and influence by 50%

Net zero across all our investments

Supplier Base

<1%

Scope 3: Other indirect GHG emissions

Category 1: Purchased Goods and Services

Category 2: Capital Goods

-69,861* tCO2e

56,972 tCO2e*

-

Reduce the carbon intensity of our Supplier Base by 50%

Net Zero in our Supply Chain

Own operations

<1%

Scope 1: Direct GHG emissions

Scope 2: Electricity indirect GHG emissions

Scope 3: Other indirect GHG emissions (Cat 3, 6, 7, 8, 13)

21,523 tCO2e (location based)

13,258 tCO2e** (location based)

Net zero for Scope 1, 2 (market-based) and Scope 3 Category 6 Business Travel

-

Net zero in operations (including remaining Scope 3 Categories)
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*Our baseline for the 2030 Supplier Base carbon intensity target is 2022

**Emissions in scope of our 2050 net zero in operations target

Our Net Zero Transition Plan

NZTP Front Cover

Net Zero Transition Plan

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NZTP Front Cover

Net Zero Transition Plan Executive Summary

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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.

Resources

NZTP Front Cover

Net Zero Transition Plan

Download PDF
stewardship-front-cover-2024

Stewardship Report

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Two Workmen Walking Together

Expectations of Companies

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Discover more

Person Sat At Their Desk Looking At Their Smartphone Portrait (1)

Invest

Our investment strategy focuses on three key areas, decarbonising the portfolio, effective stewardship of our assets and investing in climate solutions.
Two People In A Workshop Portrait

Engage

We are engaging with peers, customers and colleagues to inform our approach and encourage action, and with policy makers and regulators to drive wider system change.
People In A Meeting

Lead

We are focused on working to reduce our direct emissions in our operations, and reduce our wider impacts by working collaboratively with our supplier base.