The UK’s largest independent master trust, The People’s Pension, has more than halved the carbon footprint of its main investment fund over the past 12 months.
In its annual Taskforce on Climate Related Disclosures (TCFD) report, the People’s Partnership, the trust’s provider, said that the total carbon emissions within the scheme’s Global Investments Fund had been reduced by 53 per cent.
Although the scheme’s assets have grown by £8bn over the past 12 months, the total carbon emissions of the fund have dropped by approximately 400,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions – the equivalent of a reduction of 35.3 tonnes of CO2e per £1 million invested.
Today’s announcement comes nearly eight months after the £30bn AUM fund announced the move of £15 billion of its assets under management into climate aware investment strategies and this allocation has since risen to £18 billion.
It had been anticipated that this allocation of funds would reduce carbon emissions of the relevant fund by at least 30 per cent, but the new TCFD data shows this reduction is significantly higher.
Mark Condron, Chair of The People’s Pension Trustee, said: “This report tells a compelling story about how we use our size and influence to ensure our members’ savings are allocated and managed responsibly and reinforces our commitment to tackling climate change through investing.”
Funds Europe’s Carbon Impact Research Report 2024 can be viewed by clicking here.
