MS&AD Insurance

MS&AD publicly commits to gender equality and women’s empowerment. It also publishes case studies describing where it has engaged successfully with investees on sustainability themes and impact topics. Additionally, the financial institution identified and prioritised its impacts through a materiality assessment process which included feedback from external stakeholders.

As a member of Net- Zero Insurance Alliance MS&AD has set a target of net-zero financed emissions by 2050. The financial institution discloses the aggregate amount and share of finance it devotes to climate solutions while specifying what these solutions are namely solar, wind and hydrogen energy projects. The financial institution is also committed to minimising its negative impacts on nature and biodiversity. Additionally, the financial institution discloses absolute financed emissions arising from investments in domestic listed stocks and a portion of domestic and foreign bonds.

MS&AD has a publicly available policy statement committing it to respect human rights and the ILO core labour rights. The financial institution also describes its process(es) for assessing its human rights risks and discloses what it considers to be its salient human rights issues. Additionally it provides a case study describing how it has acted on a salient human rights risk issueand it discloses the categories of stakeholders whose human rights have been or may be affected by its activities. Furthermore, the financial institution discloses a global tax strategy and its income tax payments for all its tax jurisdictions. The financial institution also has a policy prohibiting bribery and corruption.

In terms of its approach to senior leadership accountability, while MS&AD’s board of directors supports the implementation of sustainability, it is unclear that the end responsibility for sustainability issues lies with this body. Furthermore, there is no evidence that the financial institution links the remuneration of its executive or management teams to sustainability performance criteria. In terms of female representation in leadership positions, women are underrepresented on the board of directors where only 2 out of 10 board members are women. Although the financial institution has an engagement policy which includes sustainability themes or impact topics for some business units, it does not disclose this across its investment and underwriting activities.

MS&AD could disclose interim emissions reduction targets at the group level, such as a 45% reduction in financed emissions by 2030. The financial institution also 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. Furthermore it could align its climate solutions with internationally recognised frameworks and disclose time-bound targets explicitly for its climate solutions.

MS&AD 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 has an opportunity to establish a grievance mechanism accessible to all workers, external individuals and communities to raise human rights complaints or concerns. The financial institution discloses the ages of its board members but has an opportunity to disclose this information for each employee category. 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.