Stockholm (NordSIP) – Ilmarinen, one of Finland’s top pension insurance companies, published sustainability data for the first time as part of its annual report. Up until now, Ilmarinen published a separate voluntary sustainability report in the spring. This change was implemented to align Ilmarinen’s disclosures with the of the European Union’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), which requires large companies to report sustainability data together with financial data. The new European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) are used for reporting.
Ilmarinen reported sustainability data on climate, its own workforce and business conduct. Climate change mitigation is one of the long-term goals adopted by Ilmarinen. According to the climate data, the carbon intensity of direct listed equity investments decreased by 62% and the carbon intensity of direct listed corporate bond investments by 51% of the 2020 benchmark. The greenhouse gas emissions from Ilmarinen’s domestic real estate investments in proportion to the buildings’ surface area also decreased faster than expected. In four years, they have decreased by 62 per cent.
“We have systematically implemented measures in line with our climate roadmap, and this has produced results,” says Karoliina Lindroos, Head of Responsible Investments at Ilmarinen. “The target was a 50 per cent decrease by 2030, which means we have exceeded it well ahead of our schedule. This year, our goal is to update our climate plan. At the same time, we are setting new climate targets”, adds Lindroos.
On the social front, the CSRD requires companies to comprehensively report on how they take care of their employees. One aspect of this is consulting the personnel. According to Ilmarinen this is done through a variety of channels: the Executive Group has a personnel representative, the cooperation group promotes cooperation and engages in dialogue between the personnel and management, the Executive Vice President, People and Communications, and the chief employee representatives meet on a monthly basis, and the personnel’s experiences and opinions are explored through several regular surveys.
“Our long-term strategic target is to be one of the best workplaces in Finland. In order to achieve this, the management must always know what the personnel think about matters. Clear and regular ways of meeting, discussing and listening to employees help with this,” says Sami Ärilä, Executive Vice President, People and Communications, at Ilmarinen. “We have also invested in information sessions for the personnel. The number of these sessions was increased last year. The topics of the sessions are selected from those that are of interest to the personnel and from other current themes. We encourage the personnel to ask questions and we give answers to these questions at every session. We are lucky to have a lot of questions asked directly during corridor conversations or via digital channels,” Ärilä adds.
