Principal Financial

Principal Financial identified and prioritised its impacts through a materiality assessment process which included feedback from external stakeholders. The financial institution has also set targets for its prioritised impacts and tracks progress against its targets.

No leading practices were identified for the financial institution in the respecting planetary boundaries measurement area.

Principal Financial has a publicly available policy statement committing it to respect human rights. The financial institution also discloses the proportion of women in its total direct operations workforce for each employee category. It has a grievance mechanism accessible to all workers and external individuals to raise human rights complaints or bribery and corruption concerns. Furthermore, it has a policy prohibiting bribery and corruption and discloses a public commitment to protect personal data. The financial institution also discloses a global tax strategy and that an executive-level body has responsibility for this strategy. Additionally, in a public policy statement, the financial institution discloses its approach to lobbying and political engagement.

In terms of its approach to senior leadership accountability, Principal Financial could assign responsibility for sustainability to the group’s board of directors and link the remuneration of its executive and management teams to sustainability performance criteria. It also has an opportunity to disclose the proportion of women in senior leadership roles and actions it takes in order to address any gender pay gaps. Additionally, the financial institution has an opportunity to describe its engagement approach on sustainability themes and impact topics with investees.

There is no evidence that Principal Financial discloses a target to reach net-zero financed emissions by 2050. 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, no evidence was found that it discloses its investment activities devoted to climate solutions. Regarding nature and biodiversity, the financial institution could commit to minimising its negative impacts or investing in regenerative solutions.

Principal Financial has an opportunity to describe a comprehensive process for identifying its human rights risks and impacts across all its activities, especially its financing activities. The financial institution also has an opportunity to disclose the proportion of its total direct operations workforce for each employee category by age group or another indicator of diversity. To provide transparency on financial inclusivity, the financial institution has an opportunity to disclose the amount of investments directed towards low-income developing countries.