Church Commissioners support impact investment to address climate change

12/05/2021

The Church Commissioners for England continue their engagement with other investors and asset owners to effect real-world change on its journey to being net zero by 2050, in line with the Paris Agreement and as a member of the UN’s Net Zero Asset Owner Alliance. The Commissioners recently announced its goal to reduce the carbon intensity of its investment portfolio by 25% by 2025.

The Commissioners focus on using its influence as a responsible investor to engage companies and policy makers on setting and supporting net zero targets, thus bringing more constituents of its portfolio on to the same decarbonisation pathway.

Aaron Pinnock, Impact Investment Analyst at the Church Commissioners, this week spoke at the Specialist Pensions Services conference at which he talked about the benefits of impact investment and impact measurement and how to measure the positive impact of investment portfolios. Asset owners and managers continually look for ways to influence change through engagement with companies in their portfolios.

At the conference Aaron presented the approach to impact that the Church Commissioners are taking, and said:

“An impact strategy allows for better risk management within an investment portfolio, which allows us to not only be more responsible investors but more knowledgeable about our investments in general. We are keenly aware of the social and environmental impacts that we as investors can have, which is why we focus extensively on active ownership and engagement with our underlying investments and investment managers”.