Our climate ambition

The climate crisis represents the greatest long-term threat to the planet, economies and societies. We must be active, ambitious and impactful in the face of climate change to shape a better future.

That’s why our ambition is to become a net-zero emissions asset manager by 2040.*

While there is clearly a moral imperative to act, we also believe committing to a sustainable transition represents a huge economic and investment opportunity.

"This does not mean all assets in our portfolios today will be aligned with our net-zero objective. Nor does it mean that we will cease to invest in assets that are currently associated with significant emissions. Rather, it means that over time we will aim to evolve our portfolios to align with this long-term goal." - Mark Versey, Chief Executive Officer

*This will cover all asset classes and investment funds that we manage on behalf of Aviva. Third-party clients are invited to express a preference as to whether they would like the Aviva climate commitment to apply to their portfolios. Investors in collective investment funds will be consulted in line with regulatory requirements. We will write to you if any of this applies to your fund.

We are proud to be members of the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative and the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) as part of the Race to Zero.

Our climate activities

Climate change is the biggest long-term systemic risk to the global economy as well as the biggest market failure in history.1 We must act because it is in the best interests of our clients as well as the integrity of the market. We must act because we have the power to do so, and it is the right thing for the planet and all life on it. We are supporting Aviva's broader climate goals – below is a summary of examples of where we are supporting the Aviva-led initiatives and also our own initatives.

Net zero

Our ambition is to become a net-zero carbon emissions company by 20402, covering Scope 1, 2 and 33 emissions, and net zero from our own operations and supply chain by 2030.

Cut carbon intensity

Cut carbon intensity of our assets4 by 25% by 2025 and 60% by 2030.

Climate engagement

Engaging with investee companies to drive alignment of their strategies with a net-zero trajectory, including through our Climate Engagement Escalation Programme, targeting the 30 most systemically important carbon emitters.

Leading the climate debate

Engaging with policymakers to support policy efforts to meet emission reduction targets, to encourage capital deployment at scale to finance the transition towards a low-carbon economy and accelerate investments in climate change adaptation.

Green assets

Invest £2.5 billion in low carbon and renewable energy infrastructure buildings by 2025.

Sustainable lending

Deliver £1 billion of climate transition-focused sustainable loans by 2025.

Investment exclusions

Divest from companies that derive ≥5% of their revenue from thermal coal or ≥10% of their revenue from arctic oil and oil sands unless they have validated science-based targets5 or real assets non-fossil fuel project bonds.

Science-Based Targets

Align to the Science-Based Targets methodology (1.5 degrees) for investments, operations and supply chain.6

References

  1. The Economics of Climate Change: The Stern Review is a landmark study that was published on 30 October 2006
  2. 2019 is the baseline year for measuring carbon emissions/intensity. For more information, please visit: Aviva’s climate goals – glossary and definitions – Aviva plc
  3. Emissions from investments made on behalf of our clients
  4. Subset of asset classes, Scope 1 and 2 only. Scope 1 covers direct emissions from a company's own operations. Scope 2 covers indirect emissions from electricity consumed. Scope 3 includes all other indirect emissions that occur in a company’s value chain. (Source: Carbon Trust). For further information on Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions, please refer to: Taking Climate Action – Aviva plc
  5. ESG Baseline Exclusions Policy Document. These exclusions apply to funds actively managed by Aviva Investors
  6. This represents an ambition. Aviva Investors has a fixed target for our climate transition strategies to align portfolios to science-based targets. In all other instances, setting science-based targets is one of our key engagement asks of investee companies. For more information, please see page eight of the Climate-related Financial Disclosure 2021 and page five of our Climate Transition Plan

Shaping the climate debate

The Race to Zero is a race we win or lose together. We have a responsibility to be active stewards of our clients’ assets and must also be active stewards of the financial system.

We have a long history in what we call macro stewardship – engagement with regulators and policymakers to change the rules of the game in an effort to correct material market failures and mitigate systemic risks.

As the international community still lacks a comprehensive finance strategy for the Paris Agreement, we have been convening a multi-stakeholder coalition of organisations to call for reform of the international financial architecture that supervises and regulates finance, including the creation of an International Platform for Climate Finance. This new platform will aim to harness the financial system to support the wider economic transition needed for net zero.

See change in action

Climate change is the biggest systemic challenge of our time. Discover how we're approaching climate action and supporting the transition to a low-carbon and climate-resilient world.

This is what climate action looks like

We're on a mission to rewrite the future of investing and create a climate of change.  It takes Aviva Investors.

Change with us  about This is what climate action looks like

Our climate transition capabilities

Find out how we're seeking transition ready companies to diversify returns and tackle complex challenges like climate change.

Learn more  about Our climate transition capabilities

Key milestones through a history of climate action

We have been at the forefront of climate action for decades. Our micro-stewardship centres on our investments. We use our shareholder voice to actively engage and support companies in changing corporate behaviours. At a macro level, we have a long history of involvement on climate change policy, engaging with policymakers, global governance bodies and regulators to correct market failures and bring about transformational change.

Championing climate since early 2000s

Aviva Investors was a founding signatory to the UN PRI, CDP and the IIGCC. We included climate change in our voting policy in 2001 and began calling for mandatory corporate climate change disclosure in 2007.

Policy and industry leadership

We joined the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) in 2015, calling for it to be mandatory and include sovereign disclosures. In 2022, we worked with the World Bank on its TCFD equivalent for sovereigns and urged finance ministers and central bank governors for greater climate ambition.

Partnering to drive change

We lead a coalition of investors, corporates, think tanks and NGOs, advocating for reform of international finance and the creation of an International Platform for Climate Finance to support the mobilisation of capital to tackle climate change.

Climate Engagement Escalation Programme (CEEP)

 Launched in 2021, our CEEP targets the world’s 30 most systemically important carbon emitters across our credit and equity portfolios. This is ‘engagement with teeth’: we will divest unless these companies do more to tackle climate change.

Climate Transition capabilities

Since 2019, we have expanded our range of Climate Transition investment capabilities across asset classes, investing in solutions providers and leveraging a proprietary climate model to assess climate transition risks and opportunities across 159 sub-industries.

Over £5 billion invested in renewables

Since 2015, we have invested over £5 billion in solar, wind, energy centres and energy-from-waste, reaching 1.1 giga-watts of low-carbon and renewable energy generation capacity, enough to power a large city.

£3 million energy cost saving

In 2021, our smart buildings programme, in collaboration with Carbon Intelligence, delivered over £800,000 in savings for our occupiers, bringing savings over the lifetime of the programme to £3 million.

£1 billion in sustainable lending

In 2020, we committed to delivering £1 billion of climate transition-focused loans by 2025, accelerating the transition to a low-carbon economy in real estate. We have delivered just over £1 billion of sustainable lending in the last year, exceeding the target three years early.

1.4 million tonnes of carbon

In 2021, we acquired 6,300 hectares of Scottish moorland. In partnership with Par Equity, over 3,000 hectares of land will be newly planted and 1,800 hectares of peatlands restored. An estimated 1.4 million tonnes of carbon will be sequestered over the project’s lifetime.

Turning talk into action: ESG webcast series

Introducing 'Turning talk into action', a series of thought-provoking webcasts debating the biggest ESG issues with leading experts committed to change. Climate topics include TCFD and portfolio reporting requirements, the transition to net zero in real assets, investing to best support the transition to a low-carbon world, and others.

Find out more

Real assets net zero pathway

In our commitment to achieving net zero in real assets, we outline the actions we will take to invest in low-carbon solutions and decarbonise existing assets across our portfolio.

Find out more

Climate views

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Play your part: Investing to support the climate transition

Today, the climate investment landscape is a veritable mixed bag of active and passive approaches covering a broad spectrum of investment universes and objectives. In this paper, we explore some of the pitfalls of first-generation climate strategies, the meaning of Paris or net zero aligned investments, and the benefits of adopting a holistic approach to climate change investing with a focus on science-based targets.

Download whitepaper

Read more about Aviva's climate goals. Explore a glossary and definitions of terms on Aviva’s climate goals.

The Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) brings together net zero alliances from across the finance sector as part of the Race to Zero. We are also proud to support Aviva’s leading role in GFANZ through our Group CEO Amanda Blanc, who is part of the GFANZ Principals Group.

Find out more information about the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative (NZAM) and Race to Zero.

Note: ESG and Climate related engagement, goals and exclusions can vary at the investment strategy and portfolio level depending upon country, jurisdiction and individual client needs.