Environment Agency Pension Fund
The Environment Agency Pension Fund won on the strength of having already met its interim net-zero targets, backed by a 43% cut in emissions against a 2020 baseline. Judges were especially taken with a pioneering 4% natural capital allocation, illustrated with a named example investment rather than left as an abstract target.

Managed via LPPI, the fund's interim quantified decarbonisation targets and clear focus on directing capital towards energy transition and nature-positive assets were seen as evidence of an advanced sustainability approach relative to peers, including a notably scientific, detailed approach to biodiversity. Judges highlighted a fund clearly exceeding its own climate-solutions investment targets, with ESG treated as core to the organisation rather than an overlay.

Judges agreed this was a genuinely strong entry, pointing to the pioneering nature of the natural capital allocation and the clarity with which quantified decarbonisation measures had been implemented via its manager, as evidence of leadership within the category.