Sun Life Financial

In terms of senior leadership accountability, the responsibility for sustainability issues within Sun Life lies with the board of directors. Moreover, the financial institution links the remuneration of its executive team to sustainability performance criteria. In terms of female representation in leadership positions, the financial institution has a gender-balanced board of directors where 42% of members are women. It is aiming to reach 50% of women in vice-president roles and above globally. Regarding engagement, the financial institution publishes case studies describing where it has engaged successfully with investees on sustainability themes and impact topics. Sun Life has also identified and prioritised its impacts through a materiality assessment process which included feedback from external stakeholders. It has set targets for these impacts and tracks progress against them.

Sun Life has set a target of net-zero financed emissions by 2050. It discloses the key companies it has identified as priorities to engage with on climate change, and the rationale for choosing these priorities. It further specifies that alignment with the Paris Agreement is one of its engagement topics and requires its investees to have a strategy aligned with the Paris Agreement. As a member of Climate Action 100+, the financial institution collectively engages with its investees on the topic of climate change. It also collectively engages on the topic of nature- and biodiversity-related impacts. Additionally, the financial institution discloses the aggregate amount and share of finance it devotes to climate solutions and defines these solutions according to internationally adopted frameworks.

Sun Life has a grievance mechanism accessible to all workers and external stakeholders to raise human rights, as well as bribery and corruption, concerns or complaints. It also has policies which prohibit bribery and corruption and commit the institution to respecting the health and safety of workers. In terms of workforce diversity, the financial institution discloses a breakdown of its total direct operations workforce for each employee category by gender and ethnicity. Additionally, the financial institution discloses a public commitment to protecting personal data, as well as a global tax strategy. An executive-level individual has responsibility for the tax strategy.

Sun Life has an opportunity to link the remuneration of its management team to sustainability performance criteria. Currently, only executive remuneration is linked to sustainability. In terms of gender equality, the bank also has an opportunity to reach at least 40% female representation in senior leadership positions. Currently, women hold 35% of senior leadership positions. There is no evidence that the financial institution takes action to address any pay gaps or that it discloses the ratio of basic salary and remuneration of women to men in its total direct operations workforce for each employee category.

Sun Life could disclose interim emission reduction targets at the group level, such as a 45% reduction in financed emissions by 2030. It could also disclose time-bound targets explicitly for its climate solutions. Furthermore, no evidence of an approach to fossil fuels, which covers the entire fossil fuel value chain and all of the financial institution’s financing activities, was found in the public domain. This could include the amount or share of finance directed towards fossil fuels or the financial institution’s stance on financing companies with new fossil fuel projects. Besides collective engagement on biodiversity, no further evidence was found that Sun Life is committed to minimising the negative impacts it has on nature and biodiversity.

While Sun Life has a publicly available statement committing it to respect human rights, it should place it in a formal policy document. Moreover, the financial institution has an opportunity to describe a process for identifying its human rights risks and impacts through its relevant financing activities. To provide transparency on financial inclusivity, Sun Life 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.