The real assets portfolio of the Church Commissioners for England makes up around one quarter of its overall investment assets with an approximate value of €2.9bn. This portfolio delivered an investment return of 9.5% during 2022, with a notable contribution from infrastructure investments, which delivered a return of 41%.

The Church Commissioners aim to support tangible, socially important assets that provide food, places of work, nature habitats, sustainable construction materials, homes and communities to those in need. They pursue four sustainability principles that guide their investments: long-term stewardship and long-term value, change with real impact, focus on key spheres of influence and expertise and initiatives with the biggest real-world results.

In 2023, the fund published “Our Approach to Sustainability for Real Assets", which outlined the strategic framework in approaching sustainability for its real assets portfolio, listed key challenges, estimated current emissions and gave examples of recent initiatives and next steps.

The Church Commissioners are the largest investor in the UK’s Social Supported Housing Fund (SoHo), which creates purpose-designed housing for people with lifetime care needs. SoHo is the largest private funder of this type of new build housing in the UK. Through their UK-based Strategic Land Portfolio, the Church Commissioners are currently delivering 30,000 new homes, 9,000 of which would be classed as affordable as defined by current UK planning policy.

The Church Commissioners published their Human Rights report in January 2024. This details how they will hold company management teams accountable to investor expectations regarding human rights. The Church Commissioners plan to further integrate human rights data into their voting and will work to create best practice around the use of human rights data in investor stewardship.