Corporate Social Responsibility

For more than 135 years, Northern Trust and its consolidated subsidiaries (collectively “Northern Trust” or “we”) have built a legacy on the principles of service, expertise and integrity.  

We are committed to sustainable development, recognizing that long-term financial success needs to be balanced with responsible environmental stewardship within our operations. 

In 2023, we reinforced this commitment by joining the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) and aligning our initiatives (where applicable) with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).  

We acknowledge the environmental impact of our operations and are committed to identifying and reducing negative effects. To support this effort, we are actively implementing an Environmental Management System (EMS)[1]  and an Energy Management System (EnMS)[2],  beginning with our Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) offices.

Northern Trust is committed to the following measures within our business operations:

• Complying with applicable environmental and energy management legislation;
• Continuing to improve our energy performance against our 2019 consumption baseline;
• Advancing our efforts to reach net zero carbon emissions from Scope 1 and 2 by 2050;
• Monitoring and constantly improving our environmental and energy performance and set environmental and energy objectives and performance indicators; 
• Allocating appropriate resources to deliver on the EMS and EnMS objectives;
• Where appropriate, purchasing energy efficient products and services and drive improvements in design activities;
• Reducing our impact on the environment;
• Measuring, analyzing, and improving our performance as occupiers of office premises, focusing on: utilities, waste, procurement, transport, and pollution prevention;
• Applying robust processes to minimize risks and capitalize on opportunities by understanding potential environmental impacts; 
• Using management systems and procedures to minimize and or mitigate environmental risks;
• Continuing to share our Sustainability Reporting with our stakeholders; and
• Ensuring this Environmental Statement is maintained and approved annually by the Enterprise Sustainability Committee.

[1] A framework that enables firms to identify, manage, monitor and improve their environmental performance in a systematic way.

[2] A framework that enables firms to establish, implement, maintain and improve energy performance.