Meet our experts
Since the start of the pandemic we’ve worked hard to build on our inclusive capitalism ethos. But it’s been equally important not to lose sight of our long-term goals, including a net zero future.
“Our inclusive capitalism agenda has never been more urgent or important,” says Nigel Wilson, CEO of Legal & General. “The unforeseen consequence of the pandemic has been more inequality; we’re matching words and deeds to help level up society and build back better.”
Our Sustainability and inclusive capitalism 2020–21 report looks at how our corporate social responsibility (CSR) is rooted in our foundation of inclusive capitalism. It also delves into our sustainability strategy, which focuses on three areas: our journey to net zero, building a better society and growing our business responsibly.
Our journey to net zero
We understand that managing climate risk is crucial to building resilient communities, but equally the demands of our environmental and social obligations can sometimes compete. So we invest where we see potential to drive decarbonisation while at the same time providing long-term, positive outcomes for investors and society alike – for example, we are building 6,000 homes to help tackle the affordable housing crisis, while ensuring these homes can operate at net zero by 2030.
Across our business, our climate strategy includes:
- Decarbonising our portfolio to align with the Paris Agreement. We aim to reduce our portfolio carbon emission intensity by 18.5 per cent by 2025.
- Directing more capital to clean energy investments (examples to date include Oxford PV, Tokamak Energy, PodPoint and Kensa Heatpumps). So far, we have invested £1.4bn in renewable energy.
- Using our influence as a large investor to push companies and regulators to step up on sustainability, in part through our flagship Climate Impact Pledge engagement programme. This is underpinned by our support of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), which provides companies with clear information on climate risk.
Building a better society
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating effect on the UK economy, but this also means the opportunity to ‘level up’ – and build a better society while we do it – is even bigger, which is why since the first lockdown we’ve already created 30,000 jobs. In addition, we’ve taken some important steps towards building a better post-pandemic society:
- Partnering with Innovate UK to deploy £6m in grants to technology start-ups that are making a difference in healthy ageing, and partnering with The Trinity Challenge, a global initiative to help populations across the world better protect themselves against future health emergencies.
- Committing to tackling the UK’s ongoing housing crisis. We have received planning permission for 6,000 homes through our later living, Build to Rent, Modular Homes and build to sell businesses, have provided £175m in long-term financing to build much-needed homes across the UK and we have committed £48m to delivering 200 new social homes across Ireland.
- Investing £1.5bn in towns and cities to ensure levelling up takes place across the UK, including £81.5m of funding to create more homes and commercial space in Glasgow, £65m for the now-complete Lumen Building, a sci-tech hub in Newcastle, and a £4bn investment as part of a 50:50 partnership with the University of Oxford to create a blueprint for future cities.
- Helping people age better. We’ve invested £20m into the Advanced Care Research Centre at The University of Edinburgh, donated £5m to Newcastle’s post-COVID care home prototype, are supporting the 1.4 million people who seek support to find care for the over-65s with our Care Sourcer concierge service, and have built 1,000 homes in six later-living communities with Guild Living and Inspired Villages, with a further 18 sites in development. And to reinforce just how important it is to help people age better, we published our Caring for Britain green paper.
Growing our business responsibly
Supporting our workforce has never been more challenging and more important than during this pandemic. As a result, we have put a number of support mechanisms in place, including helplines, a mental wellbeing app and a network of more than 100 Mental Health First Aiders – employees who are trained to support their colleagues when they need it most.
We have also:
- Continued to promote gender diversity, and aim to reach 50 per cent female representation across the group – as at December 31 2020, 30 per cent of our Board were women.
- Launched a Befriender service, whereby we’ve teamed up with three charities to make phone calls to the vulnerable.
- Partnered with a number of charities, including Wales’ Social Enterprise Academy, the Empower Foundation, LetsLocalise, Virtual Maths Club, Duke of Edinburgh, Girls Friendly Society, Alzheimer’s Research UK, Spark and Royal Voluntary Service. (Read more about our UK and international CSR news announcements.)
We will continue to make progress in our supply chain, using our Sustainable Sourcing Principles, which cover climate change, environmental disruptions, supporting SMEs and improving human rights.
This work has resulted in us being recognised among the Top 75 UK employers in the Social Mobility Foundation’s Social Mobility Index in 2020, reaching position 42 (up from 67 in 2019).
But there will always be so much more that we – and society – can do. That’s why our Sustainability and inclusive capitalism 2020–21 report looks not only at what we’ve done so far, but how we can pioneer the future; and, crucially, the steps we must and will take to get there, and to create a truly inclusive tomorrow that benefits everyone.
