Our Purpose

• Our Group research shows that our customers care about climate change.
• We believe that the best outcome for you is that, collectively, we achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement and this informs our strategic goals.
• That is why we have committed to aligning our Group investments to net zero by 2050.

Our commitment:

• Achieve a minimum 50% reduction in carbon (C0₂) emissions across our Group investments by 2030.
• Be net zero across our Group investments by 2050.
• Develop solutions that help our customers to invest in the low carbon transition.

Royal London Group is a signatory of:

• Paris Aligned Investment Initiative - IIGCC Net Zero Asset Owner
• Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative

In 2020, we achieved carbon neutrality in our operational energy use by offsetting the carbon emissions generated by our offices and operations. We achieved our Operational Carbon Neutrality by helping households in Guatemala. We did this by partnering with ClimateCare and supported the Household Cookstoves in Guatemala project.

• Most households in Guatemala use inefficient and conventional open fires to cook food, heat homes and make water safe to drink.
• These open fires demand large amounts of fuelwood – largely from non-renewable sources – the burning of which releases GHG emissions.
• In addition to contributing to global emissions, open fires release harmful pollutants that cause respiratory problems, mainly impacting women and children.
• A single stove reduces the amount of firewood used by households by up to 58% and saves 3.8 tonnes of CO2e per year.
• This helps to improve forest management and maintain forest stocks in Guatemala, a sector identified by the national climate programme as critically vulnerable.
• The use of these improved cookstoves also notably reduces inhalation to toxic fumes such as carbon monoxide. Also, efficiency improvements lower household expenditure, saving both time and money previously needed to collect or purchase higher amounts of firewood. These savings directly improve the quality of life for families in Guatemala.
  Carbon revenue is used to invest in research and development to improve the efficiency of stoves, as well as making the product scalable and available to more families.
• The carbon finance also helps to maintain the operations of two stove manufacturing facilities in Guatemala, which currently employ 40 local people.

Net zero is the balance between:

• the carbon emitted into the atmosphere;

and

• the carbon removed from it.