The Nest pension scheme has announced a climate change policy to decarbonise its investment portfolio.

The policy aims to align Nest with the Paris Agreement goals to keep global temperature rises within 1.5C above pre-industrial levels by 2050. It sets out a goal of being net-zero across its investments by 2050 or earlier, with the expectation that carbon emissions in its portfolio will halve by 2030.

To help achieve this Nest is making a series of immediate commitments:

Move £5.5 billion of shares (equity) into climate aware strategies, representing 45 per cent of Nest’s entire portfolio.

Begin divesting from companies involved in thermal coal, oil sands and arctic drilling and be completely divested by 2025 at the latest, unless they have a clear plan to phase out all related activity by 2030.

Invest a greater proportion of its funds directly in green infrastructure, building on the £100 million Nest has already invested in renewable projects across Europe.

Actively pressure companies to align with the Paris goals and divest from companies that show little progress following sustained engagement.

Commit its fund managers to making progress against set benchmarks, including analysing how Nest can halve its emissions by 2030.

The £5.5 billion that Nest is investing today via its climate aware equities fund represents more than £1.2 billion removed from the biggest carbon emitters and moved into companies pioneering green solutions and implementing strong transition plans.