How to track net zero progress with RealZero Check

Recently, Future Super’s parent company - Future Group - partnered with the UTS Institute for Sustainable Futures to release a free, open-source tool for investors to use to measure their progress towards net zero.

It’s called RealZero Check , and it’s a tool to keep the investment industry accountable for action on climate change.

What are net zero commitments?

A whole heap of financial institutions, including super funds, have made commitments to reach net zero by 2050.

A lot of these net zero claims, if you take a glance under the hood, are coming from investors that are funding companies that emit more than their fair share of carbon.  They’re hot air, potentially greenwashing and – worst of all – they have nothing to do with actually mitigating the harmful effects of climate change.

They take the year 2050 from the Paris Agreement, but they don’t consider the reduction in emissions that we need to achieve before then in order to limit warming to 1.5 degrees.

Your super is your money, you deserve to know what it’s up to. RealZero Check is about keeping super funds accountable for their claims and for their action on climate change.

How investors can track climate change progress

To use it, investors download the tool (which is basically an Excel spreadsheet loaded with formulas and data) and input their portfolio’s carbon emissions data to see whether it aligns with the Paris Agreement. This data is available to financial institutions from providers like S&P, generally at a cost.

RealZero Check then measures the portfolio data against the carbon budgets established by the Institute for Sustainable Futures’ research. These carbon budgets are the limits we must stick within to limit warming to 1.5 degrees and achieve the aims of the Paris Agreement. Investors are then able to see whether their portfolio is over or under the carbon budget. If it’s over, there’s work to do!

Why measuring progress matters

We ran our portfolios through the tool and we’re proud to report that all of Future Super’s investments in equities – that's companies listed on stock exchanges – are under the carbon budget!

One of Future Group’s driving values is to create positive change in the industry - basically, we want to see the whole superannuation sector doing better for people and the planet – and RealZero Check is one of the ways we’re making that happen.

See futuresuper.com.au/how-we-invest for information about our screening and investment processes.