Long term savings and investment company Standard Life announced today that it has completed the switch of 87,000 Master Trust pension scheme members to its flagship workplace default solution, Sustainable Multi Asset (SMA), part of its plan to establish sustainable strategies as the Defined Contribution (DC) default solution for its pension savers.

In all, Standard Life said that it aims to move over £15 billion covering 1.5 million customers to sustainable strategies throughout 2022. With today’s announcement, AUM in Sustainable Multi Asset Universal SLP reached £1.1 billion.

Standard Life is part of long-term savings and retirement business Phoenix Group, which announced in 2020 a goal to reduce the emission intensity of its investment portfolios to net zero GHG emissions by 2050. Last year, Phoenix added interim targets, including goals to reduce portfolio carbon emissions intensity 25% by 2025 and 50% by 2030.

Standard Life’s Sustainable Multi Asset investment solutions aim to manage pension growth through positive outcomes, integrating ESG targets including a 50% reduction in carbon emissions, and employing screens to exclude controversial weapons, tobacco production, thermal coal and unconventional oil and gas. The solutions consider ESG factors from a materiality perspective, in order to identify areas that could have a positive or negative impact on a company’s business model.

Gail Izat, Standard Life’s Workplace Managing Director, said:

“Completing the DC Master Trust switch to our Sustainable Multi Asset strategies is a significant milestone, embedding Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) considerations at the heart of our pension savings offering. Moving 87,000 members is no small feat and the learned experience has prepared us well for the next phase of switching when we’ll be moving close to £15 billion in Assets Under Management into sustainable solutions.”