Responsible investment guidelines and documents

Achmea has signed the Principles for Responsible Investment initiated by the United Nations. The PRI encourage the integration of ESG criteria into the investment process and the exercise of responsible ownership through the equity investment portfolio. We report annually to PRI on the application of these principles in our investment processes. The PRI publishes a Transparency Report. 

Achmea uses the international guidelines of the UN Global Compact as a standards framework. These guidelines originated from internationally-accepted treaties, such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the conventions of the International Labour Organization (ILO), the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development and the anti-corruption principles contained in the UN Convention against Corruption. The UN Global Compact requires companies to embrace, support and practise the core values relating to human rights, labour standards, the environment and anti-corruption within their own sphere of influence.

The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights are international standards on human rights to which countries and businesses need to adhere. These were approved by the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2011 and contain three pillars: protect, respect and remedy. Each pillar defines tangible, practical steps for governments and businesses to fulfil their respective obligations and responsibilities to prevent human rights violations in business operations and to provide solutions if such violations occur.

The International Labor Organization (ILO) is an international organization of the United Nations that aims to promote social justice and internationally recognized human and labour rights. The ILO brings together governments, employers and workers to set labour standards, develop policies and programs that promote decent work. The Declaration of Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work of the ILO is the basis of our labour rights policy.

Governance Network (ICGN). These describe the responsibilities of management boards and shareholders and are aimed at enhancing dialogue between the two parties.

We assess the quality of the Green Bonds prior to any decision to invest in them. This is done using the ICMA Green Bond Principles and the guidelines (taxonomy) issued by the Climate Bonds Initiative.

The GRI reporting framework comprises widely-accepted reporting standards for the economic, environmental and social performance of an organisation. It can be found on the GRI website (www.globalreporting.org). The report by Achmea’s Executive Board is compiled using this GRI framework.

The Carbon Risk Real Estate Monitor is an EU-funded science-based model that defines specific threshold values and carbon emission reduction pathways for real estate. It is an internationally recognised standard that provides a sound basis for selecting a scenario for cutting the carbon emissions from our property portfolio.