Our journey to net zero

We've started taking action

We aim to be a net zero business by 2050 and we are taking action to achieve this.  

Our Net Zero Transition Plan sets out how we intend to reduce emissions across our business and investments. We continue to build, refine and share our net zero plans, considering the evolving landscape and the latest guidance. While the journey ahead is by no means a straightforward one, our direction is clear: responsible long-term growth that supports better outcomes for customers and helps shape the world people will retire into.  

We believe we can help our customers reduce their exposure to climate-related risk and help them take advantage of the opportunities presented by the net zero transition. 

We have a 3-part strategy:

• Invest – Investing for the future
• Engage – Engaging to multiply our impact
• Lead – Aiming to lead by example

Delivering good customer outcomes

Our customers are at the heart of our plan and our actions are aligned with delivering good outcomes for them. Our analysis shows that, in the long term, failing to decarbonise our portfolio will likely 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.

When customers pay into their pension, that money is invested to ensure that they have an adequate pot to live on, by retirement. Some people choose to make their own decisions about how their pension is invested, but many rely on their pension company to do this for them. The ways in which this money is invested, and then how those investments are used, can have a significant impact on helping to address climate change.

Our default fund is our Sustainable Multi Asset Fund. This fund’s investment options focus on growing our customers pension pot, particularly in the early years of their investment journey.

Our targets and progress to date

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 and 2050 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, companies in high emitting sectors and our suppliers.

Some of our key achievements in 2024:

• Believed to be the first pension provider to proactively align to the Financial Conduct Authority’s (‘FCA’) Sustainability Improvers^TM Label¹ for eight funds that form the building blocks of our Sustainable Multi Asset default pension solution, improving outcomes for c.2m customers²
• Achieved an 80% reduction in the emissions intensity of our operations³
• Achieved a 52% reduction in the emissions intensity of our listed asset portfolio³
• Published the “Charting the UK’s Net Zero Future” policy paper, highlighting key recommendations to government to help catalyse the net zero transition

¹ FCA’s Sustainability Disclosure Requirements (‘SDR’).

² Standard Life expects to implement this approach in early 2025 with over 75% of Sustainable Multi Asset investments benefiting from a formal objective to align with the transition to Net Zero by 2050, while complying with the new regulatory threshold.

³Relative to 2019 baseline.