£24bn Tesco pension scheme to hit net zero by 2050

Tesco has announced its aim for all investments in its pension scheme and retirement savings plan to hit carbon neutral status by 2050.      

It will encourage the companies it invests with to reduce their carbon emissions and set milestones along the way to reach net zero by the deadline.   

The move follows a recent staff survey which reported that ensuring their investments helped “protect the world’s natural resources and habitats” and “tackle climate change” ranked at the top of employee concerns. 

The retirement savings plan and the pension scheme have signed up to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investing, the Paris Aligned Invesment Initiative Net-zero Asset Owner Commitment and the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change.

READ MORE: Tesco slips back further in cheapest supermarket rankings

Tesco has also partnered with Tumelo, an online platform which will allow workers to access information on which companies are being invested in by the retirement plan.  

The combined value of the assets for both programmes currently amounts to £24 billion for its 345,000 members. 

The supermarket said that it intends to invest the money responsibly while still enabling its growth.  

“Evidence shows that environmentally responsible, well-run companies are likely to perform better in the long term, and better performing companies tend to be better investments,” Tesco pension fund chair Ruston Smith said. 

“By investing responsibly, we can continue to deliver on our top priority of helping members’ money grow as much as possible and align our investments more closely to what we believe is important to Tesco colleagues.” 

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