As the Trustee of the YCBPS, we invest the money that’s in the Scheme to help us pay for everyone’s pensions now and in the future.

These pension investments contribute to, and are affected by, climate change.

For example, the companies we invest in contribute to climate change when they use greenhouse gases to power their offices and data centres. And these companies are affected by climate change when extreme weather disrupts their business, or when new laws make them transition to cleaner energy.

We work with our investment managers to manage the risks and opportunities of climate change.

Some of the ways we do this include:

• refusing to invest in companies that make a large part of their money from high-emission fuels like thermal coal, or oil sands
• encouraging companies to change, and working with their boards to set climate targets
• investing in renewable power, like solar and wind energy

By investing like this, we're reducing the risk that climate disruption affects our ability to pay members’ pensions in the future. This also helps us reduce the Scheme’s impact on the environment.

We measure our progress every year

We’ve reduced the carbon footprint of the Scheme by more than half since 2019. By 2050, we plan for our carbon footprint to be net zero.

Net zero means reducing the emissions from our investments as much as possible, and cancelling out the rest by investing in things that remove greenhouse gases from the air — so that overall, we’re not making climate change worse.

To get to net zero will require governments and other businesses to do their part too. We can’t control this, but we’ll continue to do what we can to make a difference.

You can read more about what we’re doing, and the progress we’re making, in our annual climate change report.