Climate and environmental action

We support the goal of the Paris Agreement to limit global temperature increase in this century to well below 2 degrees Celsius relative to pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius. To help achieve this future, we have set the following goals and targets:  

• Net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050 for both our operations and investments. 
  • An interim target of a 50% absolute reduction of GHG emissions in our operations by 2030, relative to 2019.   
  • Interim targets have been established or are under development for our asset management businesses and for Sun Life’s general account.

Refer to our Net Zero by 2050 report for the latest updates on Sun Life’s progress towards net zero. 

Sun Life’s asset management companies are also contributing to net-zero efforts through participation in the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative (NZAM). These companies include: MFS Investment Management (MFS), SLGI Asset Management Inc. (SLGI Asset Management), SLC Fixed Income, BentallGreenOak (BGO) and InfraRed Capital Partners (InfraRed). Part of the commitment as a NZAM signatory includes setting an interim target for the proportion of assets to be managed in line with net zero by 2050 or sooner. Learn more in Sustainable Investing. 

We’re developing climate action plans that will act as a roadmap to 2030 and set the foundation for our work to 2050. Although the data and technology needed to achieve net zero involve limitations or do not yet exist, we intend to be part of the solution by investing in new technology and working with Clients and investees to generate the data needed for decision making. 

We continue to maintain CarbonNeutral®⁴ company certification across our operations globally and remain committed to maintaining this status in future years. Our commitment has two components: 

• Reducing our total energy consumption (the source of (GHG) emissions in our operations) by investing in energy-efficiency initiatives in our offices. 
• Buying high-quality carbon credits to offset GHG emissions we haven’t yet reduced or eliminated. We’re working on decarbonizing our operations – but because we can’t achieve true net zero today, in the meantime, we’re purchasing enough high-quality carbon credits to match the emissions we haven’t yet eliminated.  

To learn more, read our feature story “Carbon offsetting helps the environment, communities and Sun Life”.

We’re working to understand and address potential climate change risks to our business overall. For example, we have been gaining experience with climate change scenario analysis and stress testing. We assess the potential effects of various climate change-related impacts on our office locations and investment properties. These include storms and flash floods that we expect to become more frequent and intense. Each year, we update our business continuity plans to ensure key business functions and normal operations can resume effectively and efficiently should a major disruption occur (including but not limited to an extreme weather event). 

We review environmental risks within Sun Life’s Risk Management Framework (RMF). Our RMF outlines our risk management process for how we identify, measure, manage, monitor and report current and emerging risks. Learn more in Risk Management and in our Annual Report.  

As a long-term investor, we are also working to address the climate emergency. We invest proactively in assets and businesses that support the transition to a lower-carbon economy. Examples include renewable energy, energy efficiency, sustainable buildings and clean transportation. In our asset management businesses, we consider environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks as part of our investment decision-making process. ESG risks include the physical and transition risks that climate change poses. Read more about our Sustainable Investing approach. 

We’re adapting our facilities and portfolios to a changing climate, including through enhanced risk management and building and infrastructure retrofits. Proactively, we examine ways to build climate resilience and human wellness features into our real estate portfolios.

• We have built a sustainability assessment process into all aspects of our corporate real estate operations in North America. New sustainability scorecards for major sites in North America and Ireland are measuring how well facilities are performing against aspects of various industry sustainability and wellness accreditations. The process covers the entire lifecycle of buildings, from building the space, through ongoing operations, to decommissioning. 
  
  
• During the acquisition process for specific assets, BGO identifies climate-related issues like flooding, extreme precipitation, hurricane-force winds, sea level rise, water and heat stress, and earthquakes.

Strong governance and clear lines of accountability help us deliver on our environmental commitments and remain accountable to our stakeholders.  

• The Governance, Investment and Conduct Review Committee of the Board of Directors provides oversight of Sun Life’s net-zero goal.  
  
  
• Our Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO) is accountable to ensure the company meets its sustainability commitments and advocates for strong government policies and regulations that support a lower-carbon, more inclusive economy. These efforts are supported by the sustainability team. 
  
  
• Our Vice-President of Climate Change and Environmental Impact oversees the development and implementation of the enterprise-wide climate change strategy, climate risk and decarbonisation performance and reporting functions.
  
  
• Our International Sustainability Council (ISC) drives the implementation of Sun Life’s sustainability plan and is chaired by our CSO. This plan integrates environmental considerations and actions, including those addressing climate change.  
  
  
• We reward performance on goals related to our GHG reduction targets and other environmental achievements.  
  
  
• Employees play an important role in reducing negative environmental effects of our offices and other work settings. We engage employees on environmental matters and empower them to take more sustainable actions. We encourage this behaviour, whether they’re in the workplace or working from home. 

We closely monitor our environmental programs to track progress against our targets. We commit to transparent reporting and strengthening our climate disclosures:  

• We report on several key performance indicators including sustainable investments and GHG emissions annually in our Sustainability Report.  
• We have disclosed GHG emissions to CDP since 2010.  

In our Annual Report, we provide disclosures guided by the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). TCFD recommendations support calls for a collective increase in reliable climate-related financial disclosures – an important step in ensuring greater understanding of the financial implications of climate change for greater market stability and transparency. We support the actions of regulators to require TCFD-aligned reporting. 

In addition, BGO manages Sun Life’s real estate investment properties (a small portion are Sun Life corporate offices). BGO has an ISO 14001-certified Environmental Management System (EMS) to ensure successful implementation of environmental programs and continuous improvement. The EMS covers the collection, monitoring, record keeping, evaluation and reporting of environmental and sustainability data from properties within BGO’s control. 

Sun Life is committed to advocacy and collaboration with governments, regulators, investors and industry leaders to develop supportive net-zero programs and policies that bring us closer to decarbonization. We’ve engaged with policymakers and regulators advocating for climate-related financial disclosures, greater consideration of the life and health impacts from climate change, and opportunities to create more climate-resilient buildings and infrastructure. 

You’ll find highlights of our public policy activities throughout our Sustainability Report.