Manulife

Decision-making and oversight for the sustainability strategy are assigned to the highest governance body, with performance criteria for senior executive remuneration linked to sustainability targets. Responsibility for implementing the sustainability strategy is delegated to specific functions, teams, or committees.

The financial institution has a publicly available policy statement committing to respect ILO core labour rights and expects suppliers to do the same. It identifies bribery and corruption risks through qualitative evidence and discloses its approach to lobbying and political engagement, including expenditures.

The institution discloses its positions and actions regarding lobbying on sustainability topics. It identifies key sectors, clients, and investees for climate engagement and discloses the monetary amount of products, services, and capital dedicated to nature-positive solutions. Partnerships are formed to influence sectors and clients on nature-related impacts.

Moreover, the institution discloses the monetary amount of products and services provided to usually excluded groups, as well as operational data by country.

The financial institution has opportunities to enhance transparency by disclosing its methodology for determining a living wage in its operational regions and providing a publicly available policy statement on political contributions. It identifies material sustainability impacts but could elaborate on its process for prioritising these impacts with objective criteria. The institution could provide a comprehensive list of its trade association memberships. While it provides information on its financial links to fossil fuel sectors, this could be presented more transparently.

The institution’s global asset management arm discloses its ESG engagement policy, yet a group-level policy could be beneficial. The institution has a climate action strategy but should develop a phase-out strategy for existing fossil fuel projects. Its carbon reduction targets align with well below 2 degrees trajectories, with potential for alignment with a 1.5 degrees trajectory. Targets for climate solutions could be more defined. Although the institution has piloted assessments of key nature issues, it could publish the results and clarify its prioritisation processes.

It is recommended that the institution disclose that it has established a transition plan covering its own operations, supply chain, and portfolio and publish the breakdown of clients or beneficiaries by income group. It could also clarify processes to prevent divestment from low-income and lower-middle-income countries due to its sustainability strategies and targets. Additionally, it could strengthen its disclosure by identifying the social risks associated with its financing activities in relation to net zero transition. The institution could also provide an example of actions taken in the past three years to address salient human rights issues identified through risk assessments related to the products, services, and capital it offers.

This scorecard refers to information in English which was publicly available by July 15 2024. AuM and Total assets are stated in USD for comparability and have been calculated based on reported local currency values multiplied by applicable IMF currency converter values.