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Sustainability is at the core of all Varma's operations. Varma’s responsibility for managing pension assets, and for our customers, employees and shared environment, spans far into the future.
Sustainability Programme guides our sustainability work
Through our sustainability work, we are building a better world for current and future generations. Our work is steered by the Sustainability Programme, whose priorities include taking care of pension assets and pension payments, investing responsibly, and promoting sustainable working life.
Mitigating climate change and biodiversity loss are key sustainability commitments for Varma.
Varma’s environmental responsibility defines the way we identify and manage the environmental impacts, risks and opportunities of our operations, investments and supply chain. Our most important goal is to have a carbon-neutral investment portfolio by 2035. Achieving it requires substantial emission reductions and measures in all asset classes. At the same time, we pay attention to the increasing importance of biodiversity.
We focus our investments on mitigating climate change and preparing for the changes it brings. Our efforts to mitigate climate change are steered by the Climate policy for Investments and related targets. They cover our entire investment assets.
In addition to climate change mitigation, Varma’s environmental sustainability is guided by attending to biodiversity. In this work, we make use of our Biodiversity Roadmap.
Varma is committed to respecting human rights and operating in accordance with the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. We expect the same from our supply chain and investees. Our human rights efforts are also reinforced by our participation in the UN Global Compact.
Taking care of pension assets, smooth processing of pension applications and paying pensions in the correct amount and on time are the cornerstones of everything we do.
We promote work ability by preventing the risk of employees insured with Varma having to retire on disability pension.
For us, responsibility for our employees means taking care of work ability, equal treatment, motivating remuneration, continuous competence development, and a flexible and modern work culture.
Varma’s core function, securing pensions, is a significant social mandate. Sustainability is an integral part of our daily work.
Sustainability management
The oversight responsibility for sustainability at Varma is exercised by the Board of Directors. Sustainability issues are represented in Varma’s Executive Group by the Senior Vice President, Sustainability and Communications.
Sustainability is developed and coordinated by the Responsible Investment & Sustainability department.
Sustainability of our own operations and the supply chain
We take into account the impacts of our operations on the environment and society throughout our supply chain.
In taking care of its social mandate, Varma must operate in an exemplary manner. This means our suppliers must also have a high standard of ethics and a good reputation.
Respect for the environment is a central part of Varma's sustainability. We also require our suppliers to be aware of their environmental impacts and to take them into account in their operations.
Varma is committed to promoting human rights and to operating in accordance with global principles concerning human rights. We also require our suppliers to comply with the same principles.
We carry out sustainability surveys of our own operations and our suppliers in order to identify, mitigate and prevent adverse environmental and human rights impacts.
The purpose of active ownership and engagement is to promote sustainability themes or address companies’ unsustainable operations. We engage in regular dialogue with the management and the boards of directors. A typical channel for engagement is meetings between decision-making portfolio managers and investee companies. Investor co-operation through different committees and joint initiatives is a major means of engagement.
We are a member of the Climate Leadership Coalition (CLC), an organisation formed by Finnish companies and the Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra that challenges businesses and society to mitigate climate change.
In taking care of its social mandate, Varma must operate in an exemplary manner. Our way of operating is described in the Code of Conduct, which is complemented by other internal policies and guidelines.
Varma has received recognition for its sustainability work.
EcoVadis, an international corporate sustainability assessment specialist, awarded Varma the Platinum EcoVadis Medal in 2024. Varma’s sustainability practices were rated as excellent, and we ranked in the top one per cent of the 150,000 companies analysed.
Varma ranked fourth in the Global Pension Transparency Benchmark comparison reviewing the transparency of responsible investing in 2024. The comparison examines the transparency of pension fund investments from four perspectives: costs, administration, investment performance and responsible investment.
In 2024, Varma placed first in Oikotie's "Responsible Workplace" survey in the category for large organizations. Varma achieved the best result among 12 organizations. The survey measures employees' experience of responsibility in seven areas, and Varma excelled particularly in the areas of non-discrimination, work meaningfulness and development, as well as good candidate experience and onboarding.
