John Laing on target to align 70% of its assets under management to net zero goals by 2030

John Laing today announces the launch of their 2023-2024 sustainability report marking significant progress on its sustainability goals over the past year.  In just one year since launching the sustainability strategy, John Laing has advanced its decarbonisation targets increasing alignment of assets under management (AUM) to the Paris Agreement climate goals, with 31% of AUM having developed decarbonisation plans to align with net zero.

The report is released following a year in which John Laing has continued to diversify its portfolio and invest in assets that will support the global energy transition. This has included a landmark PPP-like investment of a greenfield water treatment plant (WTP) integral to the operations of the pioneering Stegra green steel plant in Sweden, and two electricity transmission infrastructure assets – the offshore transmission assets associated with one of the world’s largest installed windfarms, Hornsea 2 Offshore Transmission Owners (OFTO) in the UK, and the Pioneer Transmission project in the U.S.

The John Laing Sustainability Report highlights:

• Climate change: Nearly a third of John Laing’s assets have clear decarbonisation plans in place that include interim targets for 2030 and this figure will rise to 70% by 2030. In total, 25% of the company’s turnover are now aligned with the EU Taxonomy.
• Resource Use: Nearly 80% of assets have waste prevention plans in place and 35% have bespoke water management plans. Assets in construction now have a 92% landfill diversion rate.
• Biodiversity: 100% of assets in or near biodiversity sensitive areas now have biodiversity management processes in place and have implemented initiatives to enhance biodiversity to ensure there is no net impact on such sensitive areas across John Laing’s whole portfolio.
• Communities: Over 80% of John Laing assets have now undertaken community engagement activities and 85% have formal stakeholder and community engagement plans in place.
• Diversity, Equity and Inclusion: Nearly two thirds of assets now have dedicated DE&I plans in place, while average Board gender diversity across John Laing’s assets almost doubled to 21% compared to 2022.

Commenting on the release of the annual sustainability report, Andrew Truscott, CEO of John Laing said: “Our commitment to sustainability goes way beyond compliance - it’s about setting new standards through bold delivery of our strategy. I’m particularly proud of the progress we have achieved in setting new benchmarks across our industry. This is testament to the dedication of our team, our asset managers and partners who share our strategic drive and vision to transform the infrastructure landscape with sustainability at its core.”

Sandrine Lalmant, Head of Sustainability said: “Sustainability is woven into every step of our investment process, from early due diligence to active asset management. However, raising the bar in sustainability means pushing past minimum standards to redefine what responsible infrastructure should achieve. The progress we have achieved across our sustainability pillars in decarbonising our portfolio to championing biodiversity and community inclusion not only sets a high bar for others in our industry to follow and but in continuing to deliver important social, economic and environmental outcomes for every asset we take on.”

John Laing’s full 2023-2024 report Raising the Bar can be downloaded here.