Anne Richards

Fidelity International is accelerating its commitment to reduce company-wide operational carbon emissions to net zero to 2030, 10 years ahead of its previous goal of 2040.

Fidelity’s path to net zero will prioritise the avoidance and reduction of emissions through operational improvements in the energy efficiency of its offices, responsible business travel and the use of renewable energy.

The new goal was set out as part of Fidelity’s Corporate Sustainability Report^[1] published yesterday and adds to other net zero initiatives previously announced including a commitment to investing aligned with net-zero emissions on or before 2050 as part of the Net Zero Asset Manager initiative, of which Fidelity is a founding signatory.

Paras Anand, Chief Investment Officer, Asia Pacific and sponsor of Fidelity’s Corporate Sustainability Committee, comments: “When we first set out net zero target in 2020, our goal was to deliver real and measurable emission reductions rather than simply offsetting the carbon we use, and we believed we could achieve this by 2040.  We’ve worked hard in the last year to improve the data on our carbon emissions in all the locations we operate in globally, and that has given us the confidence that we can be more ambitious in our target. We believe that this sort of continuous improvement is vital to ensure that we are placing our impact on the environment as key consideration in our overall business strategy.” 

In addition to its net zero target, Fidelity has committed to a range of other sustainability goals for 2024 focusing on the environment, workplace, supply chain and communities.  These include:

• Improving our environment: a 25% reduction in energy consumption, 25% waste reduction and 80% increase to recycling rate in comparison to 2019 levels.
• Strengthening our workplace: 35% of global senior management roles to be held by women and 45% of global workforce to be women. 
• Buying responsibly from our suppliers: ESG monitoring for 90% of our high-risk suppliers and 95% of tenders to include at least one diverse supplier.
• Creating resilient communities: year on year increase in employee use of volunteering hours and 200+ charities supported.

Anne Richards, Chief Executive Officer at Fidelity International comments: “The last 18 months of the pandemic has seen us pivot our entire business to allow for working from home across all our 27 locations globally while still delivering on our strategic priorities. What we have learned is that we can be more ambitious and do far more than we ever imagined was possible, even during a pandemic.

“Our aim is to apply that same thinking to the climate challenge and sustainability issues more broadly and I am delighted that we have been able to bring forward our net zero ambition and progress in a range of other areas from supply chain management to diversity and inclusion.” 

Yesterday’s announcement follows the publication of Fidelity International’s Sustainable Investing Voting Principles and Guidelines last week, introducing new global policies on climate change and gender diversity.  

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[1] Corporate Sustainability Report – https://fidelityinternational.com/canonical/1627434558/10194/
[2] Sustainable Investing Voting Principles and Guidelines – https://fidelityinternational.com/canonical/1623293717/10157/

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Anne Richards

Fidelity International is to offer employees the opportunity to work more flexibly as part of a new ‘dynamic working’ policy, which comes into effect immediately. This new way of working will allow the majority of employees across more than 25 locations worldwide the opportunity to balance their work patterns, combining both home and office working in a way that suits their role and meets the needs of their colleagues and our clients.

Our aim is to offer our people a working environment which they enjoy and where they feel supported and valued and is the latest addition to a suite of recently added employee benefits including Family Care leave and Enhanced Parental leave.

Dynamic working means that the majority of Fidelity employees will have flexibility in managing their own working pattern: flexibility in where they work and flexibility in when they work. Of course, some roles are location dependent or require pre-defined hours, which are driven primarily by client needs, but this new way of working aims to give employees as much flexibility as possible. Our offices around the world will remain important centres of community, collaboration, creativity and learning.

Anne Richards, CEO, Fidelity International, comments: “Over the course of the last year, many things have changed in our daily lives and one of those is the way we work. We have learned that we can adapt brilliantly as individuals and as teams and run our business in a way that we never imagined possible.

“Our employees have told us that they value having more choice and flexibility about where and when they work. They also want the opportunity to meet their colleagues, learn from their peers and be part of the buzz of the office. Based on this feedback, we will continue to evolve our office spaces to give all employees the chance to come together and to help foster creativity and collaboration.

“Having satisfied employees leads to satisfied clients so we believe this is a real and positive step change for our people, our clients and our business.  It is also an iterative process and we will continue to listen, learn and build on our experience from the last year.”

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