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Are you saving enough?
Find out how much your lifestyle could cost when you retire and how to work out if your savings are on track.
Are you saving enough?Climate change and your pension
Climate change is a major issue for many reasons, but did you know it can also affect your pension?
When you retire, the money you get as pension benefits comes in part from Amey plc, as the sponsoring employer. The rest comes from the way we’ve invested that money on your behalf.
The costs associated with extreme weather events and the move towards a carbon-neutral economy, can have a significant impact on businesses and on the financial markets.
This in turn means it can affect the investments of a pension scheme like ours, and ultimately affect your individual pension pot.
With this in mind our investment managers now consider climate change as a factor in investment decisions.
It's part of a process designed to make sure our investments remain profitable for members over the longer term.
This process includes looking at a wide range of environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors, including specific factors like climate change, to decide if a particular investment will be a good source of income for the next ten, twenty or thirty years.
For example, new government restrictions on the fossil fuel industry are likely to impact returns over time and could even exclude oil and gas altogether as practical investments for pension schemes.
You can find out more about our approach to investments, including ESG factors in our Statement of Investment Principles (SIP) here
Matt Riley
Manager
Matt joined Zedra Governance Limited (formerly PTL) in January 2008 having previously worked for Mercer Limited, Hazell Carr and Prudential.
As a Manager for the company's Birmingham Office, Matt’s responsibilities include working closely with Client Directors and individually liaising with Employers, Trustees and Members to ensure the smooth running of their pension schemes. Matt’s current portfolio of clients covers ongoing, paid-up and winding-up schemes. In addition, Matt has experience of schemes that have transferred or are in the process of transferring to the Pension Protection Fund and Financial Assistance Scheme. Matt also works closely with clients in relation to risk registers and internal controls.
Matt particularly enjoys resolving issues in a fair and pragmatic way ensuring that the right result is reached for the member or employer.
Sam Burden
Client Director
Sam Burden joined Zedra Governance (formerly PTL) in 2022. He is an Accredited Professional Pension Trustee (AMAPPT) and an Associate of the Pensions Management Institute (APMI)
Sam has more than 25 years’ experience in the pensions industry gained with WTW, KPMG, and Standard Life working with a wide range of pension schemes and sponsoring employers. His trustee appointments include DB, DC and hybrid pension schemes and he has experience of handling a broad range of projects relating to the management of pension schemes.
Beyond his pensions experience Sam is a former Birmingham City Councillor where he chaired the audit committee and a current charity trustee.
Payam Kazemian
Client Director
Payam Kazemian joined Zedra Governance Limited (formerly PTL Governance Limited) in 2021. He is an Accredited Professional Pension Trustee (AMAPPT) and an Associate of the Pensions Management Institute (APMI).
Payam has more than 17 years of experience in the pensions industry. Through his current role as a professional trustee, as well as previously as a pension’s de-risking and investment structuring expert at financial institutions including Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank, he has had overall responsibility for creating investment, de-risking, journey planning, and governance solutions for a wide range of UK DB pension schemes. He currently holds a number of board positions (as Chair of Trustees) and sole trustee in his professional trustee capacity. Payam has been involved with a number of pensions projects including pensions buy-in, pensions buy-out, GMP equalisation, investment strategy reviews, and dialogue with the pensions regulator. Payam looks to create and believes in a collaborative relationship between the sponsor, the trustee, and all other parties involved as this results in best member outcomes and helps deliver pragmatic solutions for scheme. Aside from his pensions experience, Payam holds a Ph.D. in Materials Science from the University of Cambridge.
