Net Zero Festival: Phoenix Group's Tim Lord on the challenge and necessity of building net zero investment portfolios

BusinessGreen staff
clock • 1 min read

VIDEO: Head of climate change at Phoenix Group explains how the pensions and investment is working to decarbonise its £300bn portfolio

Tim Lord is head of climate change at the Phoenix Group, the UK's largest long-term savings and retirement business which manages around £300bn of assets on behalf of 13 million customers.

In 2020, the company pledged to achieve net zero emissions across its investment portfolio by 2050, backed by interim decarbonisation goals for 2025 and 2030, by which point it is aiming to halve the emissions from all of the assets it controls.

Lord joined the company earlier this year from the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change think tank, where he also led on net zero and climate policy. Before that, he worked in the civil service at BEIS, playing a key role in the work underpinning the UK's historic 2050 net zero emissions target, which was embedded into the statute books in 2020

Ahead of this week's Net Zero Festival, Lord sat down with BusinessGreen's James Murray for a fascinating chat about the challenge and complexity of decarbonising pensions and investments, the threat of climate and nature risks to lifetime savings, and why the financial sector - having been slow off the mark on net zero - is now rapidly moving into gear on climate action.

Their conversation can be watched in full above.

Phoenix Group is a partner of the Net Zero Festival.

More on Investment

Advisers' Sustainability Group urges FCA to clarify green finance guidelines

Advisers' Sustainability Group urges FCA to clarify green finance guidelines

Industry-led working group warns absence of a clear FCA position in some areas 'creates uncertainty that will likely limit the adoption and long-term success of the ASG's recommendations'

Michael Nelson, Investment Week
clock 09 September 2026 • 4 min read
EdenTree's Carlota Esguevillas: 'The biggest lesson has been to keep the momentum going through all the noise'

EdenTree's Carlota Esguevillas: 'The biggest lesson has been to keep the momentum going through all the noise'

Carlota Esguevillas discusses why sustainability strengthens investment decisions, and how she's seeing green innovation taking place in almost every industry

Stuart Stone
clock 08 September 2026 • 6 min read
Water Innovation Fund to award £50m to 'bold ideas' to transform the water sector

Water Innovation Fund to award £50m to 'bold ideas' to transform the water sector

Water Innovation Fund is opening its seventh Breakthrough Challenge, with up to £50m available for collaborative projects that can tackle the industry's biggest challenges

clock 07 September 2026 • 2 min read