Neuberger Berman

The financial institution does not make political contributions and assigns decision-making and oversight for its sustainability strategy to its highest governance body. Furthermore, responsibility for implementing this strategy is delegated to various functions, teams, or committees and it discloses a stewardship policy which includes client and stakeholder engagement, advocacy, and partnerships.

The financial institution has a publicly available policy statement which commits to respecting human rights, as well as discloses its membership in trade associations and outlines its positions on lobbying and political engagement related to sustainability. Additionally, specific actions taken to align lobbying and public policy with the sustainability strategy are also disclosed. Key sectors, clients, and investees for climate engagement are transparently identified, along with the nature-related impacts of its products, services, and capital. Finally, it prioritises sectors with the highest nature-related impacts and monitors other scope 3 categories by category.

The financial institution has the opportunity to disclose its methodology for determining a living wage in its operational regions. It identifies material financial risks related to sustainability but can enhance its materiality analysis to assess material impacts based on objective criteria. Further recommendations include disclosing third-party assurance for target reporting and linking senior executive remuneration to sustainability targets.

While the financial institution’s stewardship policy supports environmental and social best practices, it could be better aligned with the sustainability strategy. While it reviews its organisational memberships to ensure they align with its ESG policy, it could disclose a commitment to avoiding adverse sustainability impacts through its lobbying. Furthermore, it should disclose measurable targets for climate solutions and provide further details on scope 2 emissions, by specifying market-based or location-based emissions.

A breakdown of clients by income group is recommended, along with processes to prevent divestment from low-income countries due to unintended consequences of sustainability strategies. Moreover, their risk assessment process should include ILO fundamental rights risks, with a mitigation process for identified risks. Finally, the institution should identify social risks related to the net zero transition and provide examples of actions taken regarding salient human rights issues from assessments in the past three years.

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.