Aviva

In terms of senior leadership accountability, Aviva links the remuneration of its executive and management team to sustainability performance criteria. In terms of its approach towards impact management, the company acknowledges that its financing activities have both positive and negative impacts and it identified and prioritised its impacts through a materiality assessment process which included feedback from external stakeholders. It also publishes case studies describing successful and unsuccessful engagement with its investees on sustainability themes and impact topics. As for female representation in leadership positions, Aviva has a gender-balanced board of directors where 5 out of 12 members are women and discloses a target to increase the number of women in leadership roles to 40% by 2024. 

As a member of the Net-Zero Insurance Alliance, Aviva has set a target of net-zero financed emissions by 2050. The company is also a member of the Climate Action 100+ and requires a select group of carbon emitters to deliver net zero scope 3 emissions by 2050. Moreover, its subsidiary Aviva Investors discloses that it engages with all companies in all sectors on the topic of alignment with the Paris Agreement. As for climate solutions, Aviva invested GBP 4 billion since 2020 against its target of GBP 6 billion in green assets by 2025. The company has targets to contribute to nature-based solutions and, as a signatory to the Finance for Biodiversity Pledge, it is committed to minimising its negative impacts on nature and biodiversity. 

Aviva has a publicly available policy statement committing it to respect human rights and the ILO core labour rights. It also describes its process for assessing its human rights risks as well as its global system to take action to prevent, mitigate or remediate salient human rights issues, including how this applies to its financing activities. Aviva has a grievance mechanism accessible to all workers, external stakeholders and communities to raise human rights complaints or concerns. Moreover, it discloses a public commitment to protect personal data. Aviva also has a policy prohibiting bribery and corruption and discloses income tax payments for all its tax jurisdictions. 

In terms of gender equality, there is no evidence that Aviva discloses the ratio of basic salary and remuneration of women to men in its total direct operations workforce for each employee category. It also has an opportunity to reach its target of at least 40% female representation in senior leadership positions. The company could also describe its engagement approach on sustainability themes and impact topics with its insurance clients in the same manner it does for its investees. 

While Aviva has an interim carbon intensity target for its investments, it could also disclose an interim absolute emission reduction target which covers all its financing activities. Furthermore, it has an opportunity to align the definition of all of its green assets with internationally recognised frameworks. In addition to disclosing the share of finance directed towards fossil fuel sectors for its shareholder and with-profit funds, it could also disclose the amount of finance it directs towards fossil fuel companies and projects through all its financing activities. Though the company states that it will not provide insurance to any new fossil fuel projects, it could also disclose a similar commitment covering its investment activities. 

There is no evidence that Aviva describes the process for identifying its human rights risks and impacts through its relevant financing activities. Nor was evidence found that the financial institution describes the process for identifying its bribery and corruption risks and impacts in specific locations or activities covering its own operations. Concerning diversity, the company could disclose the proportion of its total direct operations workforce for each employee category by age group. To provide transparency on financial inclusivity, Aviva has an opportunity to disclose the amount of finance directed towards women-owned businesses, small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) or low-income developing countries.