Sustainable business operations
As a financial service provider, our direct environmental impact is limited as we mainly operate in an office environment. Nevertheless, we have a responsibility to approach the environment with care and inform and strengthen engagement with our stakeholders. In addition, managing our direct environmental footprint is a business imperative. We believe it contributes to saving costs, engages our employees, and leads to better decision- making and business results.
Managing our operational footprint
Therefore, we aim to minimise our operational footprint by focusing on the avoidance or reduction of operational emissions. NN Group has committed to achieve net-zero GHG emissions by 2040. To reach this, we have adopted interim targets for 2025 and 2030 that are independent of offsetting:
To reduce operational GHG emissions with at least 35% by 2025 (compared to 2019):
Scope 1 and 2 (market-based): 45% reduction
Scope 3 business air travel: 25% reduction
and at least 70% by 2030 (compared to 2019):
Scope 1 and 2 (market-based): 75% reduction
Scope 3 business air travel: 50% reduction
This currently covers absolute GHG emissions from our buildings, cars and business air travel of our principal subsidiaries. Please click below for a total overview of our scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions, energy consumption, paper and waste of our principal subsidiaries.
Download our direct operations PDF table
We intend to achieve our targets through the increased use of energy efficient technologies and higher fraction of renewable energy. To facilitate the transition to electric cars, we updated our lease car policy in the Netherlands to only allow fossil free (i.e., 100% electric) lease cars from 2022 onwards, to transition to a 100% electric car fleet. For other countries, we are aiming to transition to electric cars and otherwise less emitting cars (e.g., hybrid cars). We intend to keep down scope 3 business air travel emissions by encouraging video conferencing. Furthermore, with our updated policy indicating 40% office capacity (or at most 2 days per week at the office) our employees commute less.
For carbon offsetting in 2022, we invested in forest protection (i.e., REDD+) by purchasing voluntary carbon credits from the Alto Huayabamba project in Peru as we believe the priority should be on conservation before reforestation. This project adheres to the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) and Climate, Community & Biodiversity (CCB) Standards which supports emissions reduction, and contributes to a positive impact on communities and the environment.
Sustainable procurement
NN Group is committed to making sustainable procurement decisions and we encourage our supplier to do the same. Our purchasing decisions do not only meet our organisation’s need for products and services, we aim to contribute to society as well and minimise environmental impact in doing so while addressing socioeconomic issues.
Our approach starts with assessing environmental, social and governmental (ESG) factors that can pose risks or present opportunities for NN. When material, we incorporate appropriate evaluation criteria in our sourcing processes and evaluate all costs associated with the product or service. We also challenge our suppliers to offer sustainable and innovative solutions. Our suppliers are asked to register to an innovative supplier qualification platform where they provide detailed information on the policies and processes they have in place to among others minimise environmental impact. During the course of a contract, we also engage actively with our suppliers to stimulate ongoing improvements. Our commitment and principles are captured in the NN Group Sustainable Procurement Statement.
NN Group Sustainable Procurement Statement 2022
We continually improve our relationships with suppliers and work together in a mutually beneficial way. We have included our most important standards in our approach to the environment and human rights in NN’s Terms and Conditions, which our suppliers agree to when doing business with us. On top of this, all key suppliers are asked to commit to our Supplier Code of Conduct (SCC), which outlines our expectations of the sustainability policies and practices of our suppliers.
NN Group Supplier Code of Conduct
