IFM Investors

In terms of senior leadership accountability, the responsibility for sustainability issues within IFM Investors lies with the board. In terms of female representation in leadership positions, the asset manager has a gender-balanced board of directors where four out of nine members are women. Moreover, it has an environmental social and governance (ESG) policy where it describes its ESG engagement and proxy voting policies with investees. Furthermore, IFM Investors discloses several examples of where it engaged successfully with companies on climate change topics. It also acknowledges that its financing activities have both positive and negative impacts and provides evidence of the positions it takes in its lobbying and political engagement activities on sustainability themes.

IFM Investors has set a target of net-zero financed emissions by 2050. The asset manager prioritises ten companies on climate change engagement as these are responsible for 80% of their financed emissions. Furthermore, it is a member of Climate Action 100+ and discloses the aggregate amount of finance it devotes to climate solutions. As a member of FAIRR, IFM Investors provides evidence that it collectively engages with companies to which it provides financial services on the topic of their nature- and biodiversity-related impacts.

IFM investors discloses the proportion of women in its total direct operations workforce for each employee category. Moreover, it has a grievance mechanism accessible to all workers, external individuals, and communities to raise human rights and bribery and corruption complaints. Furthermore, it has a policy prohibiting bribery and corruption and protecting personal data.

There is no evidence that IFM Investors links the remuneration of its executive or management teams to sustainability performance criteria. To improve its performance, it could disclose a public commitment to gender equality and women’s empowerment, the proportion of women in senior leadership roles as well as how it addresses any gender pay gaps. Moreover, the asset manager could provide evidence of a clear escalation framework for its ESG engagement while describing how the latter is applied in practice at the group level across all assets under management.

IFM Investors could disclose interim emissions reduction targets at the group level, such as a 45% reduction in financed emissions by 2030. Moreover, the asset manager has an opportunity to disclose alignment with the Paris Agreement as one of its engagement priorities with its investees and to provide time-bound targets explicitly for its climate solutions. Moreover, it could commit to minimising its negative impacts on biodiversity. Furthermore, IFM Investors discloses the fossil fuel exposure of its listed equity portfolio but has an opportunity to provide evidence of its fossil fuel exposure related to all its financing activities.

IFM Investors could disclose publicly available policy statements committing it to respect human rights, the ILO core labour rights, and the health and safety of workers. Although IFM Investors has a modern slavery risk assessment in place, 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. Additionally, it could disclose the proportion of its total direct operations workforce for each employee category by age group. To provide transparency on financial inclusivity, IFM Investors 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.