26/11/2025
Real assets represent around a fifth of the Church Commissioners’ £11.1bn endowment fund and includes farmland, sustainable forestry, development land, commercial and residential property, and renewable energy-focused infrastructure.
“As a faith-based investor with a duty to maximise returns for the current and future generations of the Church of England, sustainability is at the heart of our investment approach,” said Alan Smith, First Church Estates Commissioner for the Church Commissioners for England. “Managing our land and property responsibly is therefore central to our mission and can be seen in the way we engage with our tenants, local communities, government, and the environment.”
The report highlights the progress the team has made since publishing its 2023 report while showcasing the scale of the portfolio and how sustainability runs through each project.
Highlights include supporting development land with capacity for over 30,000 homes (the equivalent of Bath or Exeter), to advancing a lithium project in the North East that could meet more than 20% of the UK’s lithium needs through responsible extraction.
The team is also aiming to deliver enough renewable electricity to power around 300,000 homes, manages 85,000 acres of certified sustainable forest (with at least 20% of that focussed on biodiversity), and run nature-recovery projects on more than 3,000 acres.
“Our update highlights the progress we have made since our 2023 report and the breadth of work under way to support communities, nature-friendly farming, nature and renewable energy,” said Paul Jaffe, Sustainability Lead, Real Assets, at the Church Commissioners for England. “It brings together a wide range of examples and partner insights, showing where we are making a difference while being open about the challenges we still need to navigate. We also set out the next steps we are taking to continue delivering against our strategy.”
In September, the real assets team was recognised for its work on biodiversity and social infrastructure at the IPE Real Assets Infrastructure & Natural Capital Awards 2025, as well as its social impact efforts at the IPE Global Real Estate Awards in May.
The report is available to download here.