In early 2019, Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG), oversight was added to the charter of the Board’s Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee. The Committee reviews our sustainability strategy progress and stays informed of ESG trends, risks and opportunities through management reporting. Members of the Committee include the Board Chair and five independent Board members.
The Committee’s oversight of ESG complements the work of the Executive Sustainability Council (ESC). The ESC, which consists of eight members of our executive leadership team, is responsible for establishing the enterprise’s sustainability ambition, guiding the development of the sustainability strategy and providing recommendations and direction on matters related to sustainability. In addition to the ESC, we have a subsidiary-specific committee that executes asset class specific sustainability objectives.
The following are our Sustainability related policies and position statements that guide our work:
Manulife will not knowingly make direct investments in companies that manufacture cluster munitions where we have discretion to do so. This policy applies to policyholder funds (Manulife’s “General Account” funds) and third-party client funds of Manulife Investment Management. This policy does not apply to investments where we do not have investment discretion such as index investments, unaffiliated fund mandates and client-directed managed accounts.
Manulife uses an independent third party to maintain an exclusion list of companies that manufacture cluster munitions. The exclusion list is updated on a quarterly basis.
