Japan Post Insurance

Japan Post Insurance has a stewardship policy where it describes its approach on sustainability themes and impact topics with investees. The insurance company’s engagement policy includes a framework with success criteria and escalation points in the event that engagement with investees is unsuccessful. In addition, the financial institution publishes a stewardship report describing how the engagement policy is applied in practice and case studies describing where it has engaged successfully on sustainability themes.

As a member of Climate Action 100, Japan Post Insurance discloses that it collectively engages with its investees on the topic of climate change. The insurance company discloses the aggregate amount and share of finance it devotes to climate solutions while specifying they are defined according to an internationally adopted framework. Japan Post Insurance discloses absolute financed emissions and the underlying data quality and coverage of its financed emissions.

Japan Post Insurance has a publicly available policy statement committing it to respect human rights and a statement committing it to respect the ILO core labour rights. Additionally, the insurance company has a grievance mechanism accessible to all workers to raise human rights complaints or concerns. Japan Post Insurance discloses that the chief financial officer has responsibility for its global tax strategy. The financial institution discloses the amount of finance it directs towards small- and medium-sized enterprises.

Japan Post Insurance has an opportunity to link the remuneration of its executive and management teams to sustainability performance criteria. There is also an opportunity for the insurance company to publicly commit to gender equality and women’s empowerment. In terms of female representation in leadership positions, women are underrepresented on the board of directors where only two out of nine board members are women.

Japan Post Insurance discloses a net-zero target, but only for its own operations and not its financing activities. The insurance company could disclose interim emissions reduction targets at the group level. In addition, the insurance company 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. Japan Post Insurance could also publicly commit to minimising the negative impacts it has on nature and biodiversity.

Japan Post Insurance has an opportunity to describe the process for identifying its human rights risks and impacts through its relevant financing activities. It could also disclose the amount of finance directed towards women-owned businesses or to another usually excluded group. Additionally, the insurance company could disclose the amount of finance directed towards low-income developing countries.