Tuesday 22 April 2025 marked the 55th anniversary of Earth Day – an annual, international event to demonstrate support for environmental protection – with 'Our Power, Our Planet' as this year's theme. At LGT, sustainability is paramount to our strategies, operations and investments, and Earth Day is a valuable, annual reminder of both our commitments and the contributions we must all make to protect our planet for future generations.
In 2024, over 40% of the world's electricity came from low-carbon sources like renewables and nuclear power – the highest share since the 1940s. Renewable energy alone set a new record, generating 858 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity over the year, a stunning 49% increase from the previous record of 577 TWh set in 2022.1
At LGT, we have committed to integrating sustainability into every aspect of our business decisions by 2030, with a defined set of goals developed as part of our overarching strategy. These include utilising 100% renewable electricity and energy for heating our UK offices, decreasing our energy consumption by 30% and developing a portfolio of high-quality carbon credits to offset residual emissions from our investments and operations.
Our Edinburgh and Leeds offices have recently switched to green energy contracts, joining our London and Bristol offices in being powered entirely by 100% renewable energy. Meanwhile, we are offsetting the carbon emissions from the remaining non-renewable energy usage as part of our Group's net zero initiative.
By incorporating renewable energy solutions and sustainable strategies into our portfolios, we are not only contributing to the global effort to combat climate change, but also ensuring that our investments support a greener, more sustainable future. This Earth Day, we reaffirm our pledge to drive impactful change and lead by example in the financial sector.
At LGT, our sustainable investment proposition focuses on two major trends that we believe are crucial for a more sustainable world:
Creating healthier societies
Promoting healthier societies means prioritising inclusion, equity and overall wellbeing. It involves creating economic opportunities for everyone whilst protecting and enhancing the community.
Building cleaner economies
Our vision for cleaner economies includes an 'environmental action' pillar, aimed at combating climate change and environmental damage. This involves investing in renewable energy, promoting electric vehicle use, aligning with net zero targets and supporting biodiversity strategies.
We take a firm stand against investing in companies with significant ESG (environmental, social and governance) risks. Environmental risks refer to financial risks that arise from environmental factors impacting the institutions we interact with. These risks can stem from climate change or other types of environmental degradation and can negatively affect our counterparts.
Our exclusion policies are comprehensive and apply across all our business operations and investments. Since 2020, LGT has excluded companies involved in coal mining for energy production from our portfolios. We also exclude utilities with high carbon emissions. Specifically, we will not invest in companies if more than 5% of their revenue comes from thermal coal activities or if they account for over 1% of global annual thermal coal production.
It is of vital strategic importance that we invest in companies that meet our standards with respect to certain sustainable measures and goals. With this in mind, as part of our evaluation process for investments, companies are measured against sustainable criteria. Our proprietary sustainable assessment tool provides us with comprehensive insight on companies which include emissions data and net zero alignment.
We report emissions in two ways:
Financed emission intensity: Carbon emissions normalised by Enterprise Value including cash (per million USD).
Carbon emissions intensity: Carbon emissions normalised by sales (per million USD), which allows us to compare companies of different sizes fairly.
This dual approach helps us understand and compare the environmental impact of various businesses, regardless of their size. Our extensive sustainability insights and data help us not only to understand risks and opportunities better but also to share valuable information with our clients. This includes a range of insights, from quantitative data like carbon emissions to detailed case studies and alignment with our sustainable investment principles.
Just like financial data, we use quantitative data as a key part of our broader investment framework. While this data alone does not give us the complete picture, it significantly enhances our understanding of the investments we manage for our clients.
At LGT, we believe that every investment can be a step towards a more sustainable world. Our commitment to renewable energy and sustainable investing is just the beginning. We invite you to explore our comprehensive sustainability efforts and see how you can be part of this transformative journey.
At LGT, thinking, acting and investing sustainably is part of our ethos. We are committed to ensuring that the business we run is aligned with the interests of future generations. Learn more about our approach.
[1] Ember Energy:https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/global-electricity-review-2025/
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