A closer look at what Aviva Investors is doing to help tackle climate change.
“Right now we are facing a man‐made disaster of global scale, our greatest threat in thousands of years: climate change.” David Attenborough
More people than ever are realising how serious climate change is, as well as understanding the role we all play in finding solutions. It is no surprise then that investors are asking how asset managers are addressing the issue; both as a company and in terms of the assets that they manage.
With that in mind, here are a few highlights to show you how we’re turning talk into action.
So what are we, Aviva Investors, doing to address this issue?
- Through active engagement, we are encouraging more and more businesses to reduce their carbon footprint. But it’s vital that we practice what we preach. To this end, 15 years ago, our parent company, Aviva, were the first global insurer to become ‘carbon neutral’ and recently announced the most ambitious net‐zero target by any UK insurer – 2030.
- We have also helped make over 1.2 million people’s lives better since 2012 through our carbon offsetting projects. This includes provision of household water filters in Laos and Cambodia.
What are we doing on your behalf to help tackle climate change?
“The climate crisis is the single largest risk facing our society and economy, but it also represents a great opportunity,” – Mark Versey CEO, Aviva Investors
- We plan to invest over £5 billion into low carbon equities and climate transition strategies over the next 18 months and will look to increase the level of investment after that.
- We have divested Aviva’s own assets from 52 thermal coal mining and power generation companies, where we concluded they’re not making sufficient progress towards the engagement goals we set them.
- We have invested £6bn in green assets since 2015 and we are a member of the UN Net Zero Asset Owner Alliance. The ambition of the alliance is for all investments to have net‐zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
How can we change the industry?
We are a part of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures. This is a high-profile group, including individuals like Mark Carney and Michael Bloomberg. The aim has been to improve and increase reporting of climate‐related financial information for all companies around the world.
We hope you have found this useful and given you confidence that we’re doing our part to tackle climate change.
