AustralianSuper

The financial institution specifies that it does not make political contributions and maintains a gender balance of 40-60% at the senior executive level. Decision-making and oversight for the sustainability strategy are assigned to the highest governance body, while implementation responsibilities are delegated to functions, teams, or committees within the institution.

The institution has a stewardship policy that supports environmental transitions and social best practices in line with its sustainability strategy. Furthermore, the policy also covers client and other stakeholder engagement as well as advocacy and partnerships, along with criteria for successful stewardship outcomes, escalation routes for unsuccessful efforts, and escalation conditions defined. It also discloses the positions it takes in its lobbying and political engagement activities on sustainability topics.

The institution identifies key sectors, clients, and investees for climate engagement. Additionally, it monitors emissions from associated financing activities (Scope 3 category 15) and discloses its operational data by country.

The financial institution has a publicly available policy statement committing to respect specific workers’ rights but could reference all ILO fundamental rights at work. It has the opportunity to disclose the methodology for determining a living wage in its operational regions and to include anti-bribery and anti-corruption clauses in contracts with its business relationships.

While the institution identifies and prioritizes material sustainability impacts, it could enhance transparency by disclosing the objective criteria and evidence used in its materiality analysis. Furthermore, it could link performance criteria for remuneration at the senior executive level to specific sustainability targets and provide a comprehensive list of trade associations of which it is a member. Although the institution discloses information regarding the monetary amount of its provision of products, services and capital linked to fossil fuel sectors, it could be presented more transparently at an aggregate level.

It is recommended that the institution disclose the breakdown of clients or beneficiaries by income group and clarify processes to prevent divestment from low-income and lower-middle-income countries due to its sustainability strategies and targets. Its risk assessment process should incorporate risks related to ILO fundamental rights at work for those affected by its products and services, with a mitigation process for identified risks. Additionally, the institution could strengthen its disclosure by providing an example of actions taken in the past three years to address salient human rights issues identified through risk assessments related to the products, services, and capital it offers.

This scorecard refers to information in English which was publicly available by July 15 2024. AuM and Total assets are stated in USD for comparability and have been calculated based on reported local currency values multiplied by applicable IMF currency converter values.