Cutting our carbon footprint for clients

Our focus on sustainability has been bolstered by beating a carbon reduction deadline by 18 months in most of our funds and portfolios.

At the start of the year, we committed to reducing the carbon footprint from our equity holdings by 25% by the end of 2021.

We’re pleased to report that we had already beaten that target in 10 of our 12 sterling mandates by the end of June. We’re also on track to meet the deadline for the two outstanding sterling products, and our non-sterling funds and portfolios.

Moving to more environmentally friendly funds

We achieved this by switching from funds that don’t focus on sustainability into those that concentrate on companies with lower carbon footprints, lower fossil fuel reserves and strong consideration for environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors.

We also encouraged the companies and funds we invest in to tackle climate change and reduce their carbon emissions.

The full numbers are below, but highlights for the first six months of this year include:

•  all Coutts Invest funds exceeded our target, falling on average by 33%
• we reduced carbon emissions from the Coutts UK Multi-Asset Funds by 29% on average
•  emissions from our Discretionary Portfolio Service fell 26% on average

Leslie Gent, Head of Responsible Investing at Coutts, says: “This is strong progress in our important work helping clients reduce their carbon footprint. Analysis by Nordic bank Nordea in 2018 found that ‘greening’ your investments could be 27 times more effective than eating less meat, flying less, using public transport and reducing water use.

“All those other things have an important role to play as well of course, but the power of having more environmentally friendly investments cannot be overstated.”

She adds, “We’re acutely aware that this is a moveable feast and carbon data can change, so we’re in no way resting on our laurels. We’ll maintain our laser-sharp focus on this. It’s a crucial element of our purpose to create a more sustainable future in which people, families and businesses can thrive.”

the numbers

Here’s our current carbon reduction scorecard in full for the first six months of this year. The numbers show a standard measure of the carbon emitted by companies, expressed in tonnes of CO2 per million dollars of revenue.