Business Reporter: Legal & General Takes Sustainability to Heart
LONDON, Sept. 9, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Sara Heald, Head of CSR at Legal and General, explains how the $trillion investment fund is pushing sustainability to the heart of their company.
The Head of CSR at Legal and General, has described how the company continues to engage with sustainability. In an article written for Business Reporter, Sara Heald explains that because of their size and influence, Legal & General can make a real difference towards helping the UN achieve its 17 sustainable development goals.
"We are major investors in most of the biggest public companies in the developed world," she says. "That gives us influence in the behaviour of the boards of these companies, and the opportunity to encourage them to act responsibly in areas such as climate change and gender equality."
Ms Heald believes that the company has a "clear responsibility" to invest their funds in ways that benefit people across society such as generating rewarding work and economic growth, renewing infrastructure and reducing financial inequalities.
The company focusses on four key sustainability goals: taking action on climate change by influencing stakeholders to transition to low carbon economies; assisting with the development of a more resilient society by promoting good health, decent jobs, education and equality; investing sustainably in industry, cities and communities; and focussing internally to make their business run to a higher standard including improving the health and wellbeing of their employees.
A particular focus of the company is housing. Ms Heald emphasises that it is a fundamental right "to live in a decent home and have a decent job that contributes to the good of society." Legal & General have invested more than £16 billion in urban regeneration, affordable housing and supporting small businesses.
In addition, the company supports the development of clean energy with their Future World range of funds. They have helped finance offshore and onshore wind generation schemes as well as solar energy plants. "We are proud that sustainability is so important in our own strategy," she says. But more important is the opportunity to influence governments and inspire other people to invest sustainably to improve everyone's future.
To learn more about Legal & General's sustainability initiatives, read the article Pushing sustainability to the heart of our business and yours
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About Legal & General
Legal & General, founded in 1836, is a multinational financial services company helping over 9.5m people and managing £983bn of assets. Products and services include investment management, lifetime mortgages, pensions, annuities, life assurance, and general insurance.
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