APG Group

In terms of its approach towards impact management, APG acknowledges that its financing activities have both positive and negative impacts and it reports how it identified and prioritised its adverse sustainability impacts. It has a gender-balanced board of directors where 60% of members are women. The financial institution discloses actions it takes to address any pay gaps, such as giving women a pay rise. APG has a responsible investment policy where it describes its approach to investor engagement on sustainability themes and impact topics, including its approach to engagement escalation. It publishes a report providing an overview of its engagement activities over the past year, including case studies of successful and unsuccessful engagement with investees. 

As a member of Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative, APG has set a target of net-zero financed emissions by 2050. It discloses absolute financed emissions, including the underlying data quality and coverage. Further, it discloses the key sectors it has identified as priorities to engage with on climate change, including on the topic of alignment with the Paris Agreement. It is also a member of Climate Action 100+. APG discloses the aggregate investment amount devoted to climate solutions and aligns their definition with internationally adopted frameworks. It aims to invest EUR 15 billion in renewables by 2025. APG is committed to minimising its negative impacts on nature and biodiversity, discloses nature- and biodiversity-related impacts as one of its engagement topics with its investees and discloses the monetary amount of its investments in nature- and biodiversity-related solutions. 

APG discloses the proportion of women in its total direct operations workforce for each employee category. 

In terms of its approach to senior leadership accountability, APG could assign responsibility for oversight of sustainability to the group’s Supervisory Board. The financial institution also has an opportunity to reach at least 40% female representation in senior leadership positions. Further, it could disclose the ratio of basic salary and remuneration of women to men in its total direct operations workforce for each employee category. 

APG could disclose interim absolute emissions reduction targets at the group level, such as a 45% reduction in financed emissions by 2030. The financial institution encourages its investees to set a 1.5°C-aligned strategy but it has an opportunity to make this a requirement. It could also discloses progress against the targets it has set for its climate solutions. No evidence was found regarding APG’s approach to fossil fuels that spans across the fossil fuel value chain and across its financing activities, such as the amount or share of finance it directs towards fuels, or its stance on financing companies with new fossil fuel projects.  

APG has a publicly available policy statement committing it to respect human rights but it has an opportunity to use stronger language to turn the statement into a formal commitment. It also has an opportunity to describe a comprehensive process for identifying its human rights risks and impacts across all its activities, especially its investment activities. It could establish a grievance mechanism accessible to all workers, external individuals and communities to raise human rights complaints or concerns. Further, the financial institution discloses the ages of its executive and supervisory board but could disclose this information for each employee category.  To provide transparency on financial inclusivity, APG has an opportunity to disclose the amount of finance directed towards low-income developing countries.