Fidelity International Names First Chief Sustainability Officer: 4 Things to Know

Fidelity International has promoted Jenn-Hui Tan to chief sustainability officer. This is a newly created position at the company.

Here are four things to know about Tan and Fidelity International's sustainability strategy.

1. Business Scale: Fidelity International, based in London, United Kingdom, was founded in 1969. The company offers investment solutions, services and retirement expertise to more than 2.57 million customers globally across roughly 25 countries. As of March 2023, the business had $739.9 billion in total assets. Key customers include central banks, sovereign wealth funds, large corporates, financial institutions, insurers and wealth managers, and private individuals.

2. Sustainability Goals and Activities: Fidelity International is striving to achieve net zero emissions by 2040 for operational emissions -- including all scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions that the company can control. The company is a Climate Action 100+ signatory, a Taskforce on Climate-Related Financial Disclosure (TCFD) supporter, and member of the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC), the Carbon Disclosure Project, and a partner of the Climate Bonds Initiative. 

3. Jenn-Hui Tan's Sustainability Experience: Tan is a 16-year veteran of Fidelity International. His previous roles include global head of stewardship and sustainable investing; head of capital markets and corporate governance for Asia Pacific; director of corporate finance; and senior legal counsel.

Tan's LinkedIn profile states: "Global Head of Stewardship and Sustainable Investing at Fidelity International, based in Singapore, overseeing a global ESG team spread across Europe and Asia. Responsible for providing external and internal leadership for Fidelity’s sustainable investing activities globally, including strategy and policies on engagement, voting and ESG integration."

4. Executive Perspectives: In a prepared statement about Tan's new role, Andrew McCaffery, global chief investment officer at Fidelity, said: “As an active steward of capital, we consider the longer-term consequences of our actions in both financial and societal terms – setting ambitious sustainability goals at an enterprise level is a core part of our approach to drive positive change. As the sustainability landscape continues to evolve in line with client and regulatory expectations, we believe it is important to have a single point of accountability across Fidelity to deliver a consistent, overarching sustainability strategy – setting policy and governing delivery of our sustainability commitments across our full business operations.”

Fidelity International Names CSO: Why Technology Partners Should Care

By 2027, 25% of Global 2000 companies will have assigned a chief sustainability officer (CSO) responsible for meeting their organization’s ESG goals and making ESG-related IT purchasing decisions, according to IDC.

Technology partners need to extend their sales, marketing, engagement and support strategies to successfully fulfill those CSO needs, Sustainable Tech Partner believes.