Phoenix Group

The financial institution publishes an engagement report on sustainability impact topics and has a publicly available policy committing to respect ILO core labour rights, which it also expects from suppliers. It assesses human rights risks, identifies salient issues, and engages with affected stakeholders.

The institution has further published a policy statement that details its approach to lobbying and political engagement. It also has a stewardship policy that backs environmental transitions and social best practices. This stewardship policy outlines the criteria for successful outcomes and the escalation procedures. The institution is committed to respecting human rights and makes public its lobbying positions on sustainability.

It reports the monetary value of products and services linked to high-emitting and fossil fuel sectors, identifies key sectors and clients for climate engagement. A transition plan addresses its operations, supply chain, and portfolio, with scope 1-3 emissions reducing in line with interim targets. The institution describes its processes for identifying human rights risks and impacts related to its products, services, and capital.

While the financial institution has identified material sustainability impacts across its value chain, it could provide more detailed information on the process and the objective criteria and supportable evidence used for impact identification and prioritization. Even though it presents evidence of third-party assurance or verification, the coverage of targets remains unclear. It could provide a comprehensive list of trade associations it is a member of.

Furthermore, the institution has the opportunity to release a publicly available policy statement specifying that it does not make political contributions. While it discloses using its lobbying and political engagement power to drive positive sustainability impacts, it could commit to not using this power in ways that could lead to adverse sustainability impacts. Moreover, when disclosing its involvement with stakeholders to align lobbying and public policy engagement with its sustainability strategy, it has the chance to elaborate on specific actions or the nature of its involvement.

It is recommended that the institution disclose the breakdown of clients or beneficiaries by income group and 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.