Environment

Pacific Life is taking strides to do our part to ensure the environment remains vibrant for generations to come. We believe in responsible investing, taking care of our oceans, and ensuring our environmental and facility footprints remain small.

Investing for the Future

Responsible investing is not only good for business but it is also good for the environment. By utilizing ESG factors in our investment decision-making process, we have deployed billions of dollars that are allowing companies to pursue businesses and programs that will have a positive impact on our environment. Pacific Life maintains an Environmental Policy to highlight our commitment to ensure the environment remains vibrant for generations to come.

Pacific Life has developed a Sustainable Bond Framework that allows us to raise funds for specific investments related to energy efficiency projects and technologies that are designed to enable energy and emissions reductions. This framework and investments are independently reviewed by Sustainalytics.

 

Our Environmental Story

In our more than 150-year history, Pacific Life has never been more committed to having a positive impact on our environment than we are now. It’s not just the $17.1 million we have invested in the research and conservation of marine mammals and the health of our oceans. Our sustainability efforts have consistently led to a decrease in water, electricity, and natural gas consumption over the last ten years.  Watch our video to learn more!

Ocean Health and Marine Mammal Support

The Pacific Life Foundation advocates for the conservation and research of marine mammals and the improvement of the health of our oceans and has provided more than $17.1 million in grants to support these efforts. In 2017, the Foundation committed to provide $2.5 million in grant funding over 5 years to support ocean health and marine mammals. This support was renewed again in 2022 for an additional $2.5 million over the next 5 years. Focused funding is helping to support programs at The Nature Conservancy, Ocean Conservancy, Oceana, and World Wildlife Fund, along with additional funding of ocean health related charitable organizations at the local and regional level. 

The Nature Conservancy

The Foundation’s support is for The Nature Conservancy’s (TNC) focus to reinvent ocean information systems in California by transforming slow, outdated systems into a model of ocean information management built on real-time data streams that provide continuous signals of ocean health. In California, TNC worked with local fishermen and researchers to develop and test new fishing gear that selectively targets swordfish and prevents bycatch of turtles, sharks, and other wildlife. The organization developed a first-of-its kind early-warning system to assess and respond to whale and sea turtle entangling, which have been on the rise recently.

Oceana

The Foundation’s support is geared toward multiple campaigns by Oceana to protect marine life and sensitive seafloor habitat from destructive fishing. Oceana’s campaign efforts since 2017 have resulted in more than 165,000 square miles of seafloor habitat being protected from bottom trawling – protecting corals, sponges, rocky reefs and other important areas for marine life and ocean ecosystems. With these new protections, 90 percent of the seafloor in U.S. ocean waters off the West Coast are now off-limits to bottom trawling.

Ocean Conservancy

The Foundation’s support is targeted toward Ocean Conservancy’s critical work to protect marine mammals from the harmful impacts of trash and keep the ocean healthy, through the Trash Free Seas® Program and the International Coastal Cleanup® (ICC). Together, Ocean Conservancy and the Pacific Life Foundation have successfully increased global awareness, prevented thousands of tons of trash and debris from ending up in our ocean, and mobilized millions to clean the world’s beaches and waterways. Since July 2017, through the annual ICC, more than 75 million pounds (37,700 tons) of trash were removed from beaches, waterways, and the ocean. In addition, Clean Swell, Ocean Conservancy’s data collection app, has allowed volunteers to submit data on trash removed during cleanups across the world, revolutionizing how data is collected and tabulated.

World Wildlife Fund

The Foundation funding supports the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) efforts to reduce the devastating impacts of bycatch by working with both fisheries and policymakers, including leveraging the Marine Mammal Protection Act import rules. WWF used their global public reach to highlight the causes and impacts of ghost gear, which accounts for 10% of all marine litter entering the oceans each year and can remain in the oceans for up to 600 years. Their work with testing the use of net illumination in reducing bycatch of sea turtles has not only shown reductions in turtle bycatch, but reductions of up to 80% in general overall bycatch.

Green Initiatives

We are conscious of our environmental footprint, the impact we have in our communities, and what we leave for future generations. Through Pacific Life’s recycling efforts, the company has been able to divert thousands of pounds of trash from landfills. Our usage of biodegradable materials in our offices and cafes reduce pollution in our waterways, wildlife endangerment, and the extinction of marine life relating to plastic and environmental degradation. Our Rideshare programs and EV charging stations have saved 69,000 gallons of fossil fuel and reduced Pacific Life employee commuter carbon emissions by 750 tons.

Our Orange County, CA office recently underwent extensive renovations, in which sustainable building materials, energy efficient components, and native plant landscaping were installed.

ELECTRONIC WASTE RECYCLING

Our sustainability efforts help re-direct eWaste from landfills to people in need. In 2022, our Newport Beach, Omaha, and Lynchburg offices, in partnership with ER2, redirected 101,000+ pounds of eWaste to be recycled and repurposed, having a significant impact in our environmental footprint. Our efforts generated thousands of dollars in electronics and equipment donated to charitable organizations and programs.

Explore more about Pacific Life's CSR efforts

 

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