Responsible investment

Our responsible investment approach

Aviva is not just an insurer but an investor in the economy, investing in buildings, infrastructure projects and companies around the world to help our customers save for their future.

We do this, in part, through Aviva Investors (AI), our global asset management company, with £227 billion (as at 31 December 2023) assets under management in equities, fixed income, property and multi-asset.

Aviva Investors has a heritage in responsible investing dating back to the early 1970s. We invest responsibly with Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) considerations a central pillar of our investment process because we believe it can minimise risk and allows us to spot opportunities for our customers. This process includes areas like climate change, biodiversity, human rights, plastics and gender diversity.

Demonstrating the depth of our ESG work, AI received the highest grade in the United Nations Principles of Responsible Investment’s (UN PRI’s) 2020 annual assessment of A+ for our ESG strategy, governance and active ownership (i.e. engagement and voting).

Aviva Investors continually evolves their responsible investment process. This work has included:

  • Targeting £10 billion of investments into UK infrastructure and real estate projects by the end of 2023, as pension funds and insurers continue to increase their appetite for such investments.
  • Embedding our responsible investment philosophy, which sets out our responsible investment commitments as a business;
  • Continuing to implement specific ESG integration policies for each of our investment functions: Credit, Equities, Multi-Asset and Macro, Real Assets and Solutions; 
  • Continuing the development of new products and solutions that meet the specific needs and values of our clients, including building a Sustainable Outcomes Funds Range linked to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

We also continue to play our role as a responsible asset owner engaging with the companies, projects and assets we own on issues such as climate change, human rights and diversity. 

In 2021 Aviva voted on 70,956 resolutions at 6,648 shareholder meetings. We voted against company management recommendations in 26.6% of cases.

We recognise the need to encourage change not just with the companies we invest in, but in our industry and economy as a whole. Aviva is a founder member of the United Nations Global Investors for Sustainable Development (GISD) Alliance, which advises global policymakers on how to generate greater investment in sustainable development. 

We co-founded the WBA alongside the United Nations Foundation and others to establish public, transparent and authoritative league tables, ranking companies on their contribution to the SDGs. 

Find out more about responsible investment at Aviva Investors.