Latest news

The new investment forms part of the largest operational solar deal ever transacted in the UK. It involves the Avon, Cornwall, Devon, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Wiltshire LGPS Funds, who share a strong commitment to tackling climate change. The collaborative investment in south-west solar will generate around 196MW, enough to power nearly 70,000 homes.

Avon Pension Fund has announced an ambitious new goal to be net zero across all its investments by 2045. The latest move builds on significant work already completed by the Fund to maximise the real-world impact of its £5.4 billion investment portfolio. 

We’re pleased to launch our new Annual Responsible Investment report. Our achievements include adopting a new set of climate targets and a 2045 net zero goal, agreeing a new local impact allocation and joining a south-west partnership.

In the latest step towards achieving our net zero goals, we’ve committed £50 million to a new renewables fund. The fund has been created specifically for a consortium of LGPS funds belonging to the Brunel Pension Partnership.

We've worked with our asset manager to move over £700 million of equity investments into an innovative, Paris-aligned funding solution.

Looking after our investments so we can pay all pensions in full, while working towards our net zero 2050 goal, are essential priorities for Avon Pension Fund. As we make good progress on reducing our investment portfolio’s carbon emissions, our innovative investment strategy has hit the news.

The Avon Pension Fund is pleased to publish both its latest Responsible Investment Annual Report and Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) Report for 2022.

This year’s Responsible Investment Annual Report serves to update stakeholders on the progress we have made against our climate objectives. This report offers insight into the structural challenges climate-aware investors face and provides details of the Fund’s focus over the coming year as we seek to deliver on our financial and environmental, social and governance (ESG) obligations.

To coincide with COP27’s Finance Day, the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC) published their inaugural Paris Aligned Asset Owners (PAAO) progress report. The report, which includes 29 case studies, shows how asset owners are developing a range of strategies and approaches to fulfil the criteria set by the PAAO 10-point commitment (which is set out in the report).

In April, Avon Pension Fund signed the 2022 annual ‘Global Investor Statement to Governments on the Climate Crisis’, alongside over 500 other investors managing nearly $39 trillion in AUM. This statement was made public on the IIGCC IIGCC website yesterday, ahead of COP27 in Egypt in November.

We're pleased to bring you our Statement of Compliance with the UK Stewardship Code covering the year 2020 to 31 March 2021. 

Councillor Paul Crossley, Chair of the Pension Committee, said this in recognition of this latest release: