Freddie Mac

No leading practices were identified for Freddie Mac in the governance and strategy measurement area.

Freddie Mac discloses the aggregate amount of green bond issuance (USD 3.3 billion) and that it purchased USD 462 million in single-family green mortgages supporting energy efficiency improvements.

Freddie Mac discloses the proportion of women in its total direct operations workforce for each employee category. It also discloses the amount of finance it directs towards low-income populations. Furthermore, Freddie Mac has a grievance mechanism accessible to all workers and external individuals and communities to raise human rights complaints or concerns. Moreover, Freddie Mac has a policy prohibiting bribery and corruption as well as a grievance mechanism for stakeholders to raise concerns and complaints regarding bribery and corruption.

In terms of its approach to senior leadership accountability, Freddie Mac has an opportunity to link the remuneration of its executive or management teams to sustainability performance criteria. Freddie Mac also has an opportunity to publicly commit to gender equality and women’s empowerment, disclose the proportion of women in senior leadership roles, and clarify how it addresses any gender pay gaps. Also, Freddie Mac has an opportunity to describe its engagement approach on sustainability themes and impact topics with clients and investees.

Freddie Mac could disclose a target to reach net-zero financed emissions by 2050 in addition to the key sectors and companies it has identified as priorities to engage with on climate change, specifically on the alignment with the Paris Agreement. Freddie Mac could align all its climate solutions (green investments) with internationally recognized frameworks and disclose time-bound targets explicitly for them. Regarding nature and biodiversity, the financial institution could demonstrate how it is committed to minimising its negative impacts or financing regenerative solutions. Also, no evidence was found regarding Freddie Mac’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.

Freddie Mac has an opportunity to provide 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. It could also provide a publicly available policy statement committing it to respect the health and safety of workers. In addition, it has an opportunity to describe a comprehensive process for identifying its human rights risks and impacts across all its activities, especially its financing activities. While it discloses the ages of its board members and executive directors, it has an opportunity to disclose this information for each employee category. Moreover, Freddie Mac could disclose the amount of finance directed towards SMEs and low-income developing countries.