Dai-ichi Life Holdings

In terms of its approach towards impact management, Dai-ichi Life Holdings has a sustainability policy where it describes its approach on sustainability themes and impact topics with investees. It also has identified and prioritised its impacts through a materiality assessment process which included feedback from external stakeholders. The financial institution publicly commits to gender equality and women’s empowerment.

Dai-ichi Life Holdings discloses absolute financed emissions, and as a member of the Net Zero Asset Owner Alliance, it has set a target of net-zero financed emissions by 2050. The financial institution discloses the key companies it has identified as priorities to engage with on climate change, and the rationale for choosing these priorities. In addition, Dai-ichi Life Holdings discloses that alignment with the Paris Agreement is one of its engagement topics. As a member of Climate Action 100+, it also discloses that it collectively engages with its investees on the topic of climate change.

Dai-ichi Life Holdings has a publicly available policy statement committing it to respect human rights and the ILO core labour rights. The financial institution discloses a global tax strategy and that an executive-level body has responsibility for this strategy.

In terms of its approach to senior leadership accountability, Dai-ichi Life Holdings could assign responsibility for sustainability to the group’s board of directors. Additionally, there is an opportunity to link the remuneration of its executive and management team to sustainability performance criteria. In terms of female representation in leadership positions, women are underrepresented on the board of directors where only two out of 16 board members are women. Furthermore, the company could disclose how it addresses any gender pay gaps. Although the financial institution has an engagement policy that includes a framework with success criteria, there is no evidence that this policy includes escalation points.

Dai-ichi Life Holdings could disclose interim emissions reduction targets at the group level, such as a 45% reduction in financed emissions by 2030. While the financial institution encourages its investees to set a strategy aligned with the Paris Agreement, it has an opportunity to make this a requirement. Dai-ichi Life Holdings could also align its climate solutions investments with internationally recognised frameworks as well as disclose time-bound targets explicitly for the climate solutions. No evidence was found regarding the financial institution’s approach to fossil fuels that spans across the fossil fuel value chain and 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.

Dai-ichi Life Holdings has an opportunity to describe a comprehensive process for identifying its human rights risks and impacts across all its activities, especially its financing activities. It could also establish a grievance mechanism accessible to all workers, external individuals and communities to raise human rights complaints or bribery and corruption concerns without fear of reprisals. To provide transparency on financial inclusivity, the financial institution 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.