British International Investment

The responsibility for sustainability issues within British International Investment lies with the Board’s Development Impact Committee. The financial institution also has a gender-balanced board of directors where five out of 10 members are women.

British International Investment discloses absolute financed emissions and has set a target of net-zero financed emissions by 2050. It also discloses that alignment with the Paris Agreement is one of its engagement topics. Moreover, British International Investment set a climate finance target at 30% of its annual commitments as a rolling average for the 2022-2026 period and tracks progress against this target. It also discloses the financing criteria it uses to ensure the protection of nature and biodiversity as well as provides evidence that it requires companies to which it provides financial services to have a strategy addressing their nature- and biodiversity-related impacts.

British International Investment has a publicly available policy statement which shows it is committed to respecting the health and safety of workers. It also has a grievance mechanism accessible to all workers, external individuals and communities to raise human rights complaints or concerns. The financial institution discloses that an executive-level body has responsibility for its global tax strategy and discloses income tax payments for all its tax jurisdictions. Regarding diversity, British International Investment discloses the proportion of women in its total direct operations workforce for each employee category.

In terms of its approach to senior leadership accountability, British International Investment has an opportunity to link the remuneration of its executive or management teams to sustainability performance criteria. Regarding gender equality and diversity, it has an opportunity to reach at least 40% female representation in senior leadership positions. Moreover, while the financial institution discloses the total ratio of basic salary to men and women, it could provide a breakdown per employee category and disclose the actions it takes to address any pay gaps. Finally, British International Investment has an opportunity to describe its engagement approach on sustainability themes and impact topics with clients and investees.

British International Investment could disclose interim emissions reduction targets at the group level, such as a 45% reduction in financed emissions by 2030. It also has an opportunity to disclose the key sectors and companies it has identified as priorities to engage with on climate change, specifically on the alignment with the Paris Agreement. No evidence was found regarding British International Investment’s approach to fossil fuels that spans across the fossil fuel value chain, such as the amount or share of finance it directs towards fuels, or its stance on financing companies with new fossil fuel projects.

British International Investment has an opportunity to publish a publicly available policy statement committing it to respect human rights laid out in the UN Guiding Principles and the ILO declaration on fundamental rights at work. The financial institution could describe the process for identifying its human rights risks and impacts through its relevant financing activities. To provide transparency on financial inclusivity, British International Investment has an opportunity to disclose the amount of finance directed towards, for example, women-owned businesses, small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) or low-income developing countries.