Many customers tell us that growth and managing financial risk are their priorities when it comes to their pension investments. But they also want to avoid harm if they can and to help influence positive change.

When we use the words responsible investing it means looking at environmental, social and governance factors when deciding where to invest money. This is shortened to say ESG investing.  It means looking at how a company is managing ESG risks and opportunities and how that could affect its financial performance over the long term.

Risks

Might include investment in companies involved in an activity like tobacco production.

Opportunities

Might include investment in companies that develop green technology.

There are lots of ways you can invest responsibly. We explain what the options are on our responsible investment page.

How you can compare some types of responsible investments 

Investment managers can have different views on what makes a fund responsible or sustainable. This can make it hard for you to compare options and decide where to invest. 

The four labels below can help you compare investments, along with reviewing any sustainability disclosures provided by the fund manager.

Sustainability Impact

Sustainability Improvers
Sustainability Focus

Sustainability Mixed Goals

 

If an investment manager wants to use words like sustainable, sustainability or impact to describe their fund, they will usually have to demonstrate strong sustainability standards, apply for a label and display it on documents about the fund. 

If an investment has a label, you can be confident that it has been measured against certain evidence required to meet its label. 

To understand more about what we mean in Standard Life when we talk about responsible investment, you can check our jargon buster. 

Labels and sustainability disclosures only apply to certain types of investments  

  They do apply to many funds managed by external investment managers based in the UK.

  But they don’t apply to our internal unit-linked funds, lifestyle profiles or funds based outside the UK although we do invest responsibly.

Investments with a label will have to share extra information

Managers of labelled investments have to share information with you about the fund’s sustainability aims and measures.

Some fund managers may publish a sustainability disclosure, even though they don’t apply for a sustainability label. 

 

As part of Phoenix Group, we’re on a journey to becoming net zero by 2050. Find out how we’ll continue to support a better financial future for our customers, while considering our investment in carbon-emitting sectors, in our Net Zero Transition Plan. Standard Life is part of Phoenix Group and the data shown is for the combined Phoenix Group.