Milestone report shares the firm's commitments to a
nature-positive future
TORONTO, Jan. 18, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Manulife
Investment Management (Manulife IM) announced it has published its
inaugural timberland and agriculture nature disclosure, aligned
with the recommendations of the Taskforce on Nature-related
Financial Disclosures (TNFD). As an early supporter of TNFD,
Manulife IM will be an early adopter with its publication of its
TNFD-aligned disclosure. As the world's largest manager of natural
capital, Manulife IM prioritized issuing this report, which
outlines its responsible approach to the stewardship of timberland
and agricultural assets.1 Manulife IM oversees
approximately 5.5 million acres of timberland across the United States, Canada, New
Zealand, Australia,
Brazil, and Chile and manages approximately 400,000 acres
of prime farmland in major agricultural regions of the United States and in Canada, Chile, and Australia. These assets total more than
$15 billion as of June 30, 2023, as part of Manulife IM's
comprehensive private markets strategies.
"Although the TNFD is a recent initiative, we have maintained a
longstanding commitment to the responsible stewardship of
timberland and farmland for over 30 years," said Brian Kernohan, Chief Sustainability Officer,
Private Markets, Manulife Investment Management. "Our first
TNFD-aligned nature disclosure marks an important milestone, and it
further attests our ongoing pursuit of excellence in responsible
operations and transparent reporting as well as our commitment to
nature and our support for the TNFD framework."
The TNFD aims to bring changes to the culture and actions of
companies and financial institutions through risk management and
mainstream corporate reporting as it relates to nature-related
assessment and disclosure. The TNFD recommends 14 disclosures
covering governance, strategy, risk and impact management, and
metrics and targets, to promote the provision of clear, comparable,
and consistent information by companies to investors and other
providers of capital. Manulife IM has supported the development of
the TNFD since its early stages, championing the release of the
TNFD's final recommendations and reporting framework in
September 2023.
"Nature-related dependencies, impacts, risks, and opportunities
are thoroughly considered throughout our business, from the initial
stages of investment due diligence to the operational management.
We believe it's our responsibility to keep natural capital assets
healthy and productive over the long term," said Thomas Sarno,
Global Head of Timberland Investments, Manulife Investment
Management. "We strive to proactively assess and manage
nature-related risks and opportunities to help our clients achieve
their objectives and build resilient portfolios."
"Nature plays a vital role in the future success of our
businesses, the economy, and society," added Oliver S. Williams IV, Global Head of
Agriculture Investments, Manulife Investment Management. "Alignment
with the TNFD general requirements and disclosures, with the data
and information currently available, is a significant step in our
journey to achieving key priorities of our sustainability program
supporting climate change mitigation and positive biodiversity and
nature-related outcomes."
Highlights from the report include:
- Materiality in the investment process
- Across both timberland and agriculture, Manulife's IM's
stewardship approach focuses on climate, nature, and people
throughout the cycle of an investment.
- Since 2021, the firm has used a proprietary process—its
sustainability tool kit—that was co-developed in house by its
sustainability, acquisitions, and operations teams to identify,
assess, and score environmental, social, and governance components
of every transaction.
- Together with its deforestation policy, carbon principles,
and carbon tool kit (used specifically for forest carbon project
evaluation) this approach is designed to systematically consider
all identified material sustainability considerations.
- Materiality in operations
- Manulife IM believes independent third-party sustainability
certification is a comprehensive mechanism for credibly
demonstrating sustainable asset management and, critically, that it
provides independent assurance to stakeholders.
- As of December 31, 2022, 100% of
Manulife IM's managed forests were certified under either the
Sustainable Forestry Initiative® (SFI) or Forest
Stewardship Council® (FSC).2 In agriculture,
100% of its U.S. farmland investments were certified in
June 2022 to the Leading Harvest
Farmland Management Standard by a third party,3 and
other agriculture investments have participated in Leading Harvest
pilot programs in Australia and
Canada. Some assets have been
certified to additional agriculture standards on a case-by-case
basis. Overall, 223 of the 245 properties (91%, or approximately
80% of agriculture assets under management) in the
global agriculture investment portfolio carried one or more
third-party certifications.
- Consideration of time horizons
- Long-term thinking is fundamental to timberland and agriculture
investment management and Manulife IM's experience operating
timberland and farmland assets over the past 30 years has shaped
and refined its ability to manage sustainably over extended time
horizons.
- Manulife IM's financial models and asset management plans are
forecast over 50 years for timberland, while for agriculture the
forecast is typically 10 to 30 years ahead, depending on the type
of asset.
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1 IPE
research, as of February 5, 2023. Ranking is based on total natural
capital assets under management (AUM), which includes
forestry/timberland and agriculture/farmland AUM. Firms were asked
to provide AUM and the as of dates vary from December 31,
2021, to December 31, 2022.
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2 As of
December 31, 2022, 100% of our forests were certified under either
SFI (3.2 million acres in the United States and Canada) or FSC (2.2
million acres in Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, and
Chile).
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3
Certification as of June 2022, by Leading Harvest and is based on
an annual assessment of the conformation to the Farmland Management
Standard. Manulife Investment Management's timberland and
agriculture team (then operating as Hancock Natural Resource Group)
is a founding member of Leading Harvest. In addition, Oliver
Williams, global head of agriculture, is current chair of the Board
of Directors for Leading Harvest. For more information on Leading
Harvest, please see leadingharvest.org/about.
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About Manulife Investment Management
Manulife
Investment Management is the brand for the global wealth and asset
management segment of Manulife Financial Corporation. Our mission
is to make decisions easier and lives better by empowering
investors for a better tomorrow. Serving more than 17 million
individuals, institutions, and retirement plan members, we believe
our global reach, complementary businesses, and the strength of our
parent company position us to help investors capitalize on today's
emerging global trends. We provide our clients access to public and
private investment solutions across equities, fixed income,
multi-asset, alternative, and sustainability-linked strategies,
such as natural capital, to help them make more informed financial
decisions and achieve their investment objectives. Not all
offerings are available in all jurisdictions. For additional
information, please visit manulifeim.com.
Media Contact: Elizabeth
Bartlett, Elizabeth_Bartlett@Manulife.com
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