Investments

Climate change has the potential to drive financial value in a range of sectors. Across our equity portfolio, we engage with the companies we are investing in on climate change issues, for example their emissions disclosure and climate change mitigation strategies. This information is taken into account in making investment decisions.

Within our equity investment portfolio we established a major section focused exclusively on environmentally-friendly businesses. The portfolio includes companies seeking to develop sustainable energy sources and technologies, energy saving processes, improving food and water usage efficiencies, and recycling processes. At the end of 2010, the portfolio was valued at £7.2m. Due to disappointing performance in 2010 (2.11% capital return); the holdings will be sold in 2011 and invested in a Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) fund managed by Allianz Global Investors (AGI). The objective of the fund is to obtain a mid to long-term capital growth by investing in socially responsible companies. The fund is managed in AGI’s Paris office and invests 90 percent of its assets in French stocks.