Sun Life Financial : 2024 OSFI B-15 Climate Risk Management Report
SLF.TO
Published on 05/28/2025 at 09:55
OSFI B-15 Climate Risk Management Report
Our approach to managing climate risks and resiliency
Cautionary statement regarding forward-looking statement and other matters
This Report is being provided solely for informational purposes and not for the purposes of promoting, either directly or indirectly, any business or business interest.
Certain statements made in this Report are forward-looking statements within the meaning of certain securities laws, including the "safe harbour" provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking statements contained in this Report include statements relating to our sustainability and environmental (including climate), social and governance (ESG)-related strategies, plans, activities, risks, opportunities, goals (including our interim and long-term net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction goals and sustainable investment goals), metrics and targets, commitments and priorities that are predictive in nature or that depend upon or refer to future events or conditions (collectively, our "Sustainability Objectives"); and that include words such as "achieve", "aim", "ambition", "anticipate", "aspiration", "assumption", "believe", "could", "estimate", "expect", "goal", "initiatives", "intend", "may", "objective", "outlook", "plan", "project", "seek", "should", "strategy", "strive", "target", "will" and
similar expressions.
The forward-looking statements in this Report represent our current expectations, estimates and projections regarding future events and are not historical facts, and remain subject to change. These forward-looking
statements are not a guarantee of future performance, involve inherent risks and uncertainties and are based on key factors and assumptions, all of which are difficult to predict. In particular, because of the limitations and uncertainties inherent in climate science, risk analysis and sustainability and climate reporting, we have relied upon various market practices, taxonomies, methodologies, criteria and standards, and made reasonable approximations and assumptions, in establishing our Sustainability Objectives. However, there are many factors that we may not foresee or be able to accurately predict which may impact our ability to maintain or achieve our Sustainability Objectives or otherwise achieve the results anticipated by such forward-looking statements. The factors and assumptions which may impact the forward-looking statements in this Report include the following: the absence of a standardized taxonomy regarding sustainability-related terms (including in meaning and scope), the availability of comprehensive, comparable and high-quality GHG emissions data, the need for active and continued participation of stakeholders (including enterprises, financial institutions and governmental and non-governmental organizations), the establishment and fulfilment of climate adaptation and mitigation activities and goals (including net-zero and interim goals) by governments and companies, the assumptions underlying third-party decarbonization scenarios, the development and deployment of new technologies and industry-specific solutions (including in hard-to-abate sectors), evolving social views on sustainability-related topics, international cooperation and standard-setting, changes in government, political or regulatory approach or treatment in relation to sustainability disclosures, reporting and other requirements, and our ability to gather and verify data and successfully implement various initiatives under expected time frames, among other unforeseen events or conditions.
The terms "sustainability", "net zero", "sustainable investing", "ESG", "carbon neutral", "climate-related", "decarbonization", "transition" and similar terms, taxonomies, methodologies, criteria and standards are evolving in terms of both meaning and scope. As a result, our use of such terms may vary over time to reflect such evolution. Any references to such terms in this Report are intended as references to internally defined criteria and not to any jurisdiction-specific regulatory definition or voluntary standard that may exist.
Our Sustainability Objectives described in this Report rely on currently available science, and on assumptions and estimations based on internal and third-party data. Although we believe these sources are reliable, we have not independently verified or assessed the assumptions or estimations or the underlying data, and we cannot guarantee the accuracy of such third-party assumptions, estimations or data. Moreover, the quality, consistency and reliability of data used in connection with our Sustainability Objectives may vary across the sectors that we focus on, and in some cases may not exist. We caution that there are inherent limitations and uncertainties with available data and methodologies that may impact our underlying assumptions and estimations. Our ability to maintain or progress towards our Sustainability Objectives may be impacted if their underlying assumptions or estimations prove to be incorrect or if regulatory, economic, technological and other external factors necessary to enable their achievement fail to evolve. These factors and related uncertainties could have a material effect on our Sustainability Objectives and our ability to meet them.
We anticipate that our Sustainability Objectives and the methodologies and scenarios we use in connection with those objectives (including to measure our operational and financed GHG emissions) may need to be revised to reflect improvements in data quality and methodologies, the evolution of best practices, regulations, standards and science and changes in our business practices or strategies. In addition, our reporting on progress towards achieving our Sustainability Objectives relies on market practices and various external frameworks,
methodologies, taxonomies, criteria and other standards, which may change over time (or in some cases may not yet exist), resulting in changes to, or restatements of, our reporting processes and results.
We may need to or elect to purchase carbon and clean energy instruments, including carbon offset and removal credits and renewable energy certificates to meet sustainability-related goals. The market for these instruments is still developing and their availability may be limited. Some of these instruments are also subject to the risk of invalidation or reversal, and there can be no assurance of the treatment of any such instruments in the future.
There may also be changes to applicable regulations and standards that impact the market for carbon and clean energy instruments. The maturity, liquidity and economics of this market may make it more difficult for us to achieve our Sustainability Objectives.
Other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in or implied by the forward-looking statements in this Report include the matters set out in the 2024 Annual Information Form of Sun Life Financial Inc. for the year ended December 31, 2024 under the heading "Risk Factors" and other factors detailed in Sun Life Financial Inc.'s annual and interim financial statements and management's discussion and analysis and any other filings with Canadian and U.S. securities regulators made available on https://www.sedarplus.ca and https://www.sec.gov, respectively.
The forward-looking statements in this Report are presented for the purpose of assisting our stakeholders in understanding the ways we intend to address our Sustainability Objectives and may not be appropriate for other purposes. Sun Life does not undertake any obligation to update or revise its forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this document or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events,
except as required by law.
This Report is not required to be prepared or filed by Sun Life under Canadian or U.S. securities laws and is
intended to provide information from a different perspective and in more detail than is required to be included in mandatory securities filings. The information contained herein should not be read as necessarily rising to the level of materiality of disclosure required in our securities law filings and should not be considered to be incorporated by reference into any such filings.
The information contained in this Report is not intended to provide specific financial, tax, investment, insurance, legal or accounting advice and should not be relied upon and does not constitute a specific offer to buy and/or sell securities, insurance or investment services. This Report may contain examples of our internal ESG research processes and is not intended to represent any particular product's or strategy's performance or how any particular product or strategy will be invested at any particular time.
The recipient is solely liable for any use of the information contained in this report, and neither Sun Life nor any of its affiliates nor any of their respective directors, officers, employees or agents shall be held responsible for any direct or indirect damages arising from the use of this Report by the recipient. The addresses or hyperlinks to third-party websites in this Report are provided for the recipient's convenience and the content of such websites are not in any way included or incorporated by reference into this report. Sun Life takes no responsibility for such websites or their contents, or for any loss or damage that may arise from their use. If you decide to access any of the third-party websites linked to this document, you do so at your own risk and subject to the terms and conditions of such websites.
KPMG LLP (KPMG) has performed a limited assurance engagement of scope 1, 2, and select scope 3 metrics for our greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in this report, as set out in KPMG's 2024 Independent Limited Assurance Report. Other information contained in this Report not identified by this symbol was not subject to any
independent limited assurance engagement.
About Sun Life
Sun Life is a leading international financial services company providing a diverse range of asset management, wealth, insurance, and health solutions to individual and institutional Clients. Our countries of operation include Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Japan, Indonesia, India, China, Australia, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia and Bermuda.
Our long-term business strategy is centered on managing risk and building resilience to ensure we continue to deliver on our Purpose of helping Clients achieve lifetime financial security and live healthier lives. Climate-related risks - such as the financial impact of market shifts, regulatory changes, and the increasing health risks associated with extreme weather events and environmental factors - are integrated into our risk management approach. To safeguard our business and Clients, we integrate material risks associated with climate into our investment decision-making as appropriate, assess long-term health and demographic trends, and embed climate resilience in our operations. These efforts build on our foundation as a trusted, well-governed business, ensuring we remain resilient, forward-thinking, and positioned for long-term sustainability.
Table of contents
Introduction 6
About this report 6
B-15 Responsive Disclosures 7
Governance 7
Board of Directors 7
Management 9
Strategy 11
Life and health insurance businesses 13
General account investments 14
Operations 15
Risk Management 17
Identification and assessment 19
Prioritization 20
Monitoring 22
Metrics and Targets 23
Approach to climate-related metrics 23
Enterprise greenhouse gas emissions 24
General account metrics 27
Operational metrics 30
Appendix 32
OSFI B-15 Index 32
Disclaimer
Sun Life Financial Inc. published this content on May 28, 2025, and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed via Public Technologies (PUBT), unedited and unaltered, on May 28, 2025 at 13:54 UTC.