Greenhouse gas emissions of Ilmarinen’s pension investments decreased significantly​

Ilmarinen invests pension assets so that future generations’ pensions can also be paid even if the number of people paying pension contributions decreases. Higher returns on investments help cover the gap. A long-term responsible investor must take sustainability risks into account when investing.

Climate change mitigation is a very important goal for Ilmarinen. Over the past few years, the goal has been successful: 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 target was a 50 per cent decrease by 2030, which means we have exceeded it well ahead of our schedule,” says Lindroos.

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.

“This year, our goal is to update our climate plan. At the same time, we are setting new climate targets”, adds Lindroos.

Reporting reformed

Ilmarinen published sustainability data for the first time as part of its annual report. Previously, the voluntary sustainability report was published separately later in the spring.

The change was made because the European Union’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive requires large companies to report sustainability data together with financial data. The new European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) are used for reporting. In addition to climate data, Ilmarinen also reports on its own workforce and business conduct.

Ilmarinen consults employees in a variety of ways

The new standards require companies to comprehensively report on how they take care of their employees. One aspect of this is consulting the personnel. Ilmarinen has long organised this in a varied and systematic manner.

“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.

Ilmarinen has a long tradition and many different ways of consulting the personnel: 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.

“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,” says Ärilä.

Ilmarinen also has various networks in which the personnel can participate in promoting a theme that is important to them and this way influence the company’s operations. The mental well-being mentor network and the responsibility network's environmental and diversity groups are active in their work.

Read more

• Ilmarinen’s annual report and financial statements 2024 (pdf)