Current practice

AEGON companies adhere to a number of different local, regional and international corporate governance initiatives. These include rules and guidelines provided by the:

 

  • Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)
  • International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN)
  • Dutch Corporate Governance Code
  • Department of Labor in the United States
  • US Insurance Regulatory Requirements
  • Combined Code in the United Kingdom.

 

In addition, AEGON upholds a number of different international agreements, setting out guidelines or minimum standards for pollution, human rights or labor conditions. These agreements also help shape and inform the company's investment decisions.

 

  • AEGON is a signatory to the 2009 Carbon Disclosure Project, a program that encourages companies to be more open about their greenhouse gas emissions. Investors that have signed up to the Project have approximately USD 55 trillion[1] in assets under management.
  • In the United Kingdom, AEGON Asset Management is a member of the Association of British Insurers' investment committee, which considers corporate governance issues and sets policy in this area. In addition, AEGON Asset Management UK is a signatory to the UN Principles for Responsible Investment and a member of both the UK Sustainable Investment & Finance Association and the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative, which aims to improve governance in the global oil, gas and minerals sector.

 

In September 2009, AEGON added its voice to calls for a new climate change agreement at the Copenhagen Conference. The company was one of more than 180 signatories to an investor statement urging a global agreement to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Between them, the signatories manage more than USD 13 trillion in assets. The investor statement called for a new target to reduce global emissions by between 50% and 85% over the next 40 years as well as additional government support for energy efficiency initiatives and low carbon technologies. Signatories to the statement agreed that a new target was "essential to give investors confidence about the future direction of climate policy". The investor statement was signed on behalf of AEGON by Erik van Houwelingen, Chairman of AEGON Asset Management.

 

To read the investor statement in full, please click here

 

 

[1] Source: Carbon Disclosure Project.