10th April March 2025 [London, UK] – UKSIF has released its pensions review, recommending the UK government consider wide-ranging and urgent reforms to the UK’s pensions sector as part of its ongoing Pensions Investment Review.

The report highlights gaps in the current policy and regulatory framework for UK pension schemes and provides recommendations to ensure the UK pensions system can drive long-term, sustainable growth across the country and support a more secure and resilient future for millions of pension savers.

Key findings are that:

1. £3 trillion in UK pension assets represents considerable untapped potential ready to drive sustainable long-term growth
2. Action is needed to address pension adequacy
3. There should be progressive reforms to auto-enrolment
4. Sustainability reporting needs to be updated to be decision-useful and forward looking
5. The regulatory framework must evolve to support long-term, sustainable investing

Click here to read the full press release: UKSIF Pensions Review Press Release April 2025

Click here to read the full report: UKSIF Report: Unlocking Pension Capital for Sustainable Growth

• Global economic exposure to fossil fuel asset stranding risk amounts to $2.28 trillion by 2040
• The UK’s share of this exposure is $141 billion (£113 billion), which equates to around $3,279 (£2,595) per working adult
• $19 billion (£15.2 billion) worth of UK pension funds’ fossil fuel assets is at risk of stranding by 2040, which represents a 13% share of the UK’s total economic loss exposure
• The UK financial system is itself disproportionately exposed to the stranding risk, ranking 9th globally for losses per capita – more exposed than the United States, Italy, and France

6th March 2025 [London, UK] – The UK economy is disproportionately exposed to stranded fossil fuel assets, with potential losses for UK pension savers reaching tens of billions of pounds by 2040, according to a new report from the UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association (UKSIF) in collaboration with Transition Risk Exeter (Trex).

Their analysis traces the complex web of financial ownership of fossil fuel assets and tracks the exposure of end beneficiaries – such as individual investors, pension funds and governments – to the risk of these assets becoming ‘stranded’. This refers to oil, gas and coal reserves, along with associated infrastructure and investments, that lose economic viability before their expected operational lifetimes as a result of climate policies, technological changes, or shifting market conditions.

Based on current green transition policies, mid-term action plans to cut emissions, and long-term net zero targets, the report finds that global economic exposure to fossil fuel asset stranding risk amounts to $2.28 trillion by 2040 – of which the UK’s exposure is calculated at $141 billion.  In comparison to the cost of climate inaction, this is still a much smaller loss to bear. In a warming scenario between 2.5°C and 2.9°C, climate-intensified natural disasters may lead to $12.5 trillion in economic losses by 2050.

Click here to read the full press release: UKSIF Stranded Fossil Fuel Assets Press Release

Click here to read the full report: UKSIF Stranded Assets Report

Read the report here

London UK., November 14, 2024 – As investors and international policy makers gather at COP29, The Global Sustainable Investment Alliance (GSIA) released its report Transforming Global Finance for Climate Action: Addressing Misaligned Incentives and Unlocking Opportunities. In addition to offering specific recommendations to the policymakers at COP29, the report identifies barriers to sustainable investment and the actions needed to encourage the flow of capital to the projects needed to address climate change.

Dubbed the ‘Finance COP’, COP 29 is expected to see a new climate finance goal dominate headlines, but GSIA have identified systemic misalignment keeping private investment and policy making out of step. National plans currently fall far short of what is needed, and significant private finance must be mobilized to avoid climate disaster. GSIA have set out a systems-change approach to aid the financing of that change, with academics from the University of Tokyo, Columbia University, London School of Economics, and investment professionals from World Bank Group, PRI, Berkeley Law and others contributing to the report’s findings.

“Investor and policymakers’ incentives are misaligned,” said James Alexander, CEO of UKSIF and Chair of GSIA. “At COP 29, policymakers, investors and civil society negotiators can help address the key barriers to meaningful and actionable change. We need supportive policy action to align incentives and catalyse capital to unlock the opportunities that a climate transition presents.”

The report groups incentive barriers into five categories, which GSIA has called the PIVOT framework:

• Policy vacuum – Policies can act as barriers that prevent investment from flowing to the climate crisis. At the same time, there is a lack of positive policies that encourage climate-positive investments.
• Interest – Companies and investors may focus on quick wins for near-term financial return or sustainability, ignoring long-term goals (e.g. net-zero by 2050). This short-term thinking prevents investments in sustainable projects and innovations to meet climate targets.
• Valuation – Environmental and social factors are traditionally not accounted for in financial models causing money to flow into environmentally harmful industries as “hidden costs” aren’t considered. A short-term focus on financial reporting can further undermine long-term value creation.
• Ownership – Some institutions and investments are managed without active involvement. A hands-off approach, whether due to cultural or structural challenges, means redirecting capital is difficult, and met with resistance from the current system.
• Transition misalignment – Certain business models and industries naturally conflict with the goals of the energy transition, making it challenging to create and put into action long-term plans that include these sectors.

Read the press release here

Read the report here

About Global Sustainable Investment Alliance (GSIA)

GSIA is a global collaboration of sustainable investment membership-based organisations, aiming to unlock the power of the worldwide financial services industry to drive leadership, achieve a substantial impact on key global challenges, and accelerate the transition to a sustainable future.

GSIA simultaneously works to enhance the synergies between members, participate in global initiatives, and provide advice and support to local and regional sustainable investment organisations as they establish and grow.

GSIA’s members are drawn from Europe, Asia-Pacific and North America. Collectively GSIA’s members represent the mainstream of global finance and investment, managing tens of trillions of dollars in assets. GSIA members include Eurosif (European Sustainable Investment Forum), Japan SIF (Japan Sustainable Investment Forum), RIAA (Responsible Investment Association Australasia), RIA Canada (Responsible Investment Association Canada), UKSIF (UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association), US SIF (The US Sustainable Investment Forum).

About UKSIF

The UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association (UKSIF) is the member organisation for sustainable investment in the UK, with over 320 members collectively managing £19tn in global assets. Members include investment managers, pension funds, banks, financial advisers, research providers, NGOs, among others.

In June we were pleased to host Alternative Investment Week Conference and the UKSIF Summer Drinks Reception.
 
Alternative Investment Week conference was targeted at alternative investors, including hedge funds, private equity, private credit, venture capital and real estate, and facilitated discussions on how alternatives can implement ESG into their strategies.
 
To wrap the day up, our members joined us in the Barbican Conservatory for the UKSIF Summer Drinks Reception 2024.
 
The Alternative Investment Week conference 2024 brochure can be seen here.
 
Photos from the conference can be seen here and photos from the drinks reception can be seen here.
 
Recordings of the conference sessions are now available to UKSIF members on the knowledge hub:
 
Opening remarks and Keynote: The US Election and Geopolitics
Sector Focus: Social Housing: how has the industry developed?
Fireside Chat: Aligning expectations: what do allocators want and how do you communicate it?
Sector Focus: The unique role of Private Equity in a sustainable finance system
The future of sustainability regulation for alternatives
An Election Looming: What do the manifestos say?
Sector Focus: Debt and sustainability-reliant ratcheting
Sector Focus: Venture Capital deal sourcing and sustainable value creation
 
Thank you to our sponsor Verity.

[London, 30th May 2024] UKSIF and PwC today released their report on implementing the FCA’s Sustainability Disclosure Requirements (SDR) and investment labels rules (the ‘SDR package’). The report identifies implementation challenges that firms are facing, provides recommendations on how to address those challenges, and sets out an implementation roadmap to support asset managers and other firms in implementing the new rules.

UKSIF and PwC collaborated alongside UKSIF members, including representatives from its SDR Implementation Working Group, to offer asset management firms initial insights and recommendations for action as they implement various elements of the SDR package of regulation over this year. Challenges identified include fund labelling interoperability across different jurisdictions; uncertainty over the qualifying criteria and standards for the labelling categories; product governance challenges, and tight timelines for compliance with the ‘anti-greenwashing’ rule.

You can read the full press release here: PwC UKSIF SDR Report Press Release (May 2024)

London, 15th May 2024 – The UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association (UKSIF), which brings together 300+ members managing over £19 trillion in global assets under management (AUM), today published the final report in the four-part Financing the Future series, looking at the Financial Services sector.

Through consultation with member organisations, and in-depth polling of 100 financial services organisations, UKSIF has identified three policy areas currently impeding the UK from taking up a leadership position as the world’s sustainable finance hub. The Financial Services report sets out clear policy actions which government and regulators can take in order to fill the gaps identified in the UK’s sustainable finance policy regime.

The report calls for government and policymakers to:

1. Deliver a clear and world-leading sustainability disclosure regime
2. Empower investors by clarifying the fiduciary duty of pension schemes
3. Embed biodiversity into the regulatory framework

Key findings of the report include:

• 69% of business decision-makers in the finance sector agreed that the lack of certainty over sustainability policy and regulation is limiting their investment in the UK.
• 95% of large UK finance firms would increase their investment in sustainable/green projects in the UK if favourable green policies were implemented.
• Nearly eight in ten (77%) have said that greater harmonisation of financial sustainability standards globally would have a positive impact on companies investing.

Click here to read the Financing the Future: Financial Services press release. 

Click here to read the Financing the Future- Financial Services Report

• 87% of the UK transport sector, with approximately £150bn invested in the UK, agree that providing a consistent approach to UK Government partnerships with investors, including producing investment prospectuses for gigafactory sites would have a positive effect on investment into the UK.
• 57% of major transport companies have said they have or plan on moving investments out of the UK to a market that is more supportive of their sustainability goals.
• Only 32% of large transport companies in the UK expect to meet their intermediary 2030 carbon reduction targets.

London, 22nd April 2024 – The UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association (UKSIF), which brings together 300+ members managing over £19 trillion in global assets under management (AUM), is calling on the UK government to provide greater clarity on the long-term strategy to decarbonise the UK transport industry, to improve investor confidence and unlock growth opportunities for this vital sector of the UK economy.

UKSIF believes that the UK Government risks creating an investment hiatus and a flood of private capital being driven to other international markets through, among other areas, its inconsistent and opaque approach to public-private engagements in regard to gigafactory investment.

When placed in stark comparison with other international policies such as the US Inflation Reduction Act, which provides potential investors with easily identifiable rules of engagement, UKSIF says that unless the UK can provide a clear process for investors, it will continue to fall behind and be unable to compete on the global stage for battery production.

Since being signed into law, the IRA has attracted more than $110 billion of private capital investment into new clean energy manufacturing, including more than $70bn into electric vehicle supply chains, showing clear evidence of what a transparent and clear approach can do to unlock higher domestic private sector investment.[1]

This sentiment is backed by UKSIF’s own research, which showed that 87% of the UK transport sector, representing approximately £150bn in UK investment, agree that providing a consistent approach to UK Government partnerships with investors, including producing investment prospectuses for gigafactory sites would have a positive effect on investment into the UK.

James Alexander, CEO at UKSIF comments: “A lack of clarity and certainty on the long-term strategy for the automative sector, is destroying investor confidence, driving much needed private capital overseas and limiting necessary progress on the decarbonisation of the transport sector.

Without certainty from policymakers on targets or transparency on the approach to private partnerships, manufacturers and investors find themselves in limbo – questioning how or why to invest in this sector, and the long-term strategy for UK transport. This is confirmed by our own research into large transport businesses in the UK, where more than half half (57%) have said they have moved or plan on moving investments out of the UK to a market that is more supportive of their sustainability goals.

Moreover, the government’s failure to invest in our home-grown talent and boost investment in areas such as the West Midlands, where a skilled workforce in the automotive industry already exists, risks creating a skill shortage that could see us fall even further behind.

The UK is in desperate need of consistent policy, backed by ambitious targets to retain its powerful position as a world leader in sustainable finance and innovation.”

UKSIF welcomes the Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ comments at the Labour Party’s 2024 Business Conference, reaffirming her party’s ambition to attract private investment at scale to finance the UK’s green transition.

Reeves committed to “governing [sic] as a pro-business party” and described financial services as “a national asset to be championed”, noting the ambition of Labour’s proposed National Wealth Fund to attract £3 of private capital for every £1 of public investment. She recognised the importance of regulatory reform in the wider economy, too, committing to a “once in a generation overhaul of our planning system”. Reeves also highlighted the potential for the City of London as the global hub for green finance, creating jobs in financial services across the UK while financing the world’s transition to net zero.

UKSIF Chief Executive, James Alexander, said: “The Shadow Chancellor rightly recognises the potential for private capital to finance a significant portion of UK’s transition to net zero, as well as the huge opportunity for UK leadership in sustainable finance around the world. The Labour Party should continue to focus on key regulatory reforms – as well as public funding where appropriate and sufficiently catalytic – to ensure the UK would compete with the US, EU and elsewhere in the global race for green investment, and the growth, jobs and rise in living standards which inevitably follow”.

The UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association (UKSIF) has urged the government to launch its consultation on the Green Taxonomy, following the publication of the final Green Technical Advisory Group (GTAG) recommendation paper.

UKSIF has sat on the GTAG since its formation in 2021, providing insight on its members’ views on how a robust, science-based taxonomy ought to work in the UK.

The GTAG’s recommendation papers and final statement can be found here.

UKSIF CEO James Alexander said:

“Through its recommendations papers over the last two years, the Green Technical Advisory Group (GTAG) has highlighted to government how a ‘green taxonomy’ in the UK could help better enable investors and businesses to make the investments in the sustainable economy that are needed if the UK is to meet net-zero. We welcome today’s final recommendations published by the GTAG advising government to consider an ‘institutional home’ to oversee and support the long-term implementation of the taxonomy.

“Our members continue to require a clear, science-based taxonomy in the UK that provides valuable transparency over those economic activities supporting the UK’s climate objectives. The UK’s taxonomy should also seek to proactively shape the development of other taxonomies and disclosure regimes around the world.

“It is now vital that the government brings forward its green taxonomy consultation without further delay, with clear timelines set out for how and when it will be implemented.

UKSIF was pleased to contribute to Eurosif’s letter to the European Commission on the EU’s renewed Sustainable Finance Strategy. Among other asks, our letter called for a pivot towards focusing on the transition journey, by defining a set of robust sectoral transition pathway for different sectors of the economy.

Full details are below-

https://www.eurosif.org/letter-to-the-commission-on-the-new-eu-sustainable-finance-strategy/