Pensions firm Scottish Widows has launched four environmental funds in a suite of new strategies applying to £1.4 billion (USD$1.7 billion) worth of assets. The strategies are headlined by the Global Environmental Solutions Fund, which is focused on directing pension investment into companies that “provide solutions to critical environmental issues”, including global greenhouse gas emissions, food security, pollution and biodiversity loss. The new fund, developed with fund manager Schroders, targets companies involved in advancing alternative energy generation and supply, clean mobility, transport and infrastructure sustainability, forestry, sustainable agriculture, biodiversity preservation and pollution prevention. It invests in companies that derive at least 50% of their revenues from goods and services that facilitate sustainable alternatives in transportation, electricity and heat production, water use, agriculture, or industrial manufacturing. Firms that direct at least 20% of capital expenditure to the adaptation of their businesses or products and services to the circular economy are also eligible. Scottish Widows has also launched three regional equities funds which track decarbonising benchmarks, managed for Scottish Widows by BlackRock and Abrdn, targeting investment in companies at the “forefront of the transition to a low carbon economy”. The funds are aligned with the decarbonisation objectives of the 2015 Paris Agreement and are intended to be used as “building block components” for more than 80 Scottish Widows multi-asset funds.
BIG LAUNCH DAY 📣📣📣 https://t.co/FkAljRgNgK @ScottishWidows pic.twitter.com/dLeXGgNYAs
— Maria Nazarova-Doyle (@Maria_N_Doyle) March 29, 2023
