Aviva Investors is to pilot a scheme to work out the carbon footprint of a sample of its equity portfolios.
The move comes after the asset manager signed the Montreal Carbon Pledge, a commitment to measuring and publically disclosing the carbon footprint of investment portfolios on an annual basis.
Launched by the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (UNPRI) as part of the pledge, signatories agree they will publish their carbon footprint annually on websites, in annual reports and in sustainability and responsible investment reports, or in any other publicly visible reporting channel by December 1, 2015.
Signatories must also inform the PRI of the proportion of assets under management that have been measured.
Aviva has already made strides to include climate risks into its decision-making. In July it set out five carbon pillars – integrating climate risks into investment decisions, investment in low carbon infrastructure, supporting strong policy action on climate change, active stewardship on climate risk and divesting where necessary.
“We support greater transparency on carbon risk, however good quality carbon foot-printing relies on good quality carbon data. There are still significant gaps in disclosure which is why we will also continue to advocate for better data to support this,” says Euan Munro, chief executive, Aviva.
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