External affiliations

External affiliations

We believe that corporate responsibility is most effective when it is fully integrated into the operations of the entire company. To that end, we continue to develop and augment tools and resources that educate employees about corporate responsibility-related practices and how corporate responsibility can impact their specific roles and improve outcomes. We actively participate in industry committees and studies to both assist us in developing our internal strategy and promote advancement of the industry. For example, we contributed to two leading initiatives; one specific to the financial sector and one specific to corporate philanthropy.

CDP (formerly Carbon Disclosure Project)

CDP is a not-for-profit organization that runs the global disclosure system for investors, companies, cities, states and regions to manage their environmental impacts. The system that has resulted in widespread global engagement on environmental issues.

Voya Investment Management, a Voya Financial ongoing business, is a signatory to CDP and Voya Financial participates in disclosing our environmental performance to CDP. Additionally, Voya Financial is also part of a coalition of companies working with CDP to help develop the financial services sector questionnaire that will be aligned with the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) recommendations.

Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy (CECP)

Voya Financial has been an active member of Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy (CECP) since 2007. A coalition of CEOs united in the belief that societal improvement is an essential measure of business performance, CECP is committed to the vision of its founder, Paul Newman, who understood that corporations could be a force for good in society.

Voya’s Office of Corporate Responsibility has representation on the advisory committee of the CECP SII, with perspectives from both the CR practitioner side as well as an investor with ESG capabilities. Additionally, Christine Hurtsellers, CEO, Voya Investment Management, signed the CECP SII Investor Letter to provide guidance to presenting companies on topics of interest to long-term, “patient-capital” investors. More details about this coalition of CEOs are available on the CECP (opens new window) website.

Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)

The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is an international, independent organization that helps companies, governments and other organizations understand and communicate the impact of business on critical sustainability issues. GRI provides the world’s most widely used standards on corporate responsibility and sustainability reporting and disclosure, enabling businesses, governments, civil society and citizens to make better decisions based on information that matters. In 2016, Voya joined the GRI GOLD Community Standards Pioneers Program (opens new window) for companies at the forefront of corporate responsibility reporting. Voya committed to being one of the first one hundred organizations to adopt the GRI Standards issued in November 2016.

Investment Stewardship Group

The Investor Stewardship Group (ISG) is an investor-led effort that includes some of the largest U.S.-based institutional investors and global asset managers, along with several of their international counterparts. The members include more than 60 U.S. and international institutional investors with combined assets in excess of US$31 trillion in the U.S. equity markets. The ISG is being led by each member’s senior corporate governance practitioners. The ISG was formed as a sustained initiative to establish a framework of basic investment stewardship and corporate governance standards for U.S. institutional investor and boardroom conduct. The result is the framework for U.S. Stewardship and Governance comprising of a set of stewardship principles for institutional investors and corporate governance principles for U.S. listed companies. The corporate governance framework articulates six principles that the ISG believes are fundamental to good corporate governance at U.S. listed companies. They reflect the common corporate governance beliefs that are embedded in each member’s proxy voting and engagement guidelines, and are designed to establish a foundational set of investor expectations about corporate governance practices in U.S. publicly listed companies. Voya Investment Management, a Voya Financial ongoing business, became a signatory to ISG in May 2019.

London Benchmarking Group (LBG)/Association of Corporate Contributions Professionals (ACCP)

The London Benchmarking Group (LBG) and the Association of Corporate Contributions Professionals (ACCP), whose missions focus on supporting the profession of corporate community involvement, developed a pilot program to bring the LBG framework to U.S. companies. Voya Financial participated in an 18-month program to assess the LBG model, a method that enables companies to measure community contributions and analyze results, in the U.S. For more information, visit ACCP’s The Measurement Academy website (opens new window).

Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI)

The Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) is an international network of investors working together to put the six Principles for Responsible Investment into practice. The six Principles are a voluntary and aspirational set of investment principles that offer possible actions for incorporating ESG issues into investment practice.

The Principles were developed by investors, for investors. In implementing them, signatories contribute to developing a more sustainable global financial system. PRI is an investor initiative in partnership with UNEP Finance and the UN Global Compact. Voya Investment Management, a Voya Financial ongoing business, is a signatory to PRI. For more information about Voya Investment Management’s ESG Program, please see our ESG Investment page.

Science-Based Targets Initiative

Voya Financial is part of a coalition working with the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi) to help develop methods, frameworks and implementation guidelines for financial institutions to set science-based greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions targets for investing and lending portfolios. SBTi provides companies with a clearly defined pathway that specifies how much and how quickly they need to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions in order to align with the Paris Agreement, a commitment among governments for the de-carbonization required to keep the global temperature increase below 2 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial temperatures.

Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB)

In 2012, Voya Financial joined the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) Financial Sector Working Group, participating in a comprehensive member survey. SASB, a non-profit organization engaged in the development of industry sustainability (i.e., corporate responsibility) accounting standards, embarked on a process to explore material sustainability issues — those societal and environmental challenges that pose specific risks or opportunities — facing the financial sector. Members’ responses were used to create sustainability accounting standards suitable for disclosure in standard corporate filings such as Form 10K. The project aimed to create a guide for financial services firms in prioritizing sustainability risks, opportunities and performance management. Reports and more details about this initiative are available on the SASB (opens new window) website.

Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD)

The Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) (opens new window) was established by the Financial Stability Board (FSB) of the G20 to develop voluntary recommendations for climate-related financial disclosures. The guidance for public corporations aims to help companies disclose information that is consistent, reliable, clear, efficient and decision-useful for lenders, insurers and investors. Voya Financial became a supporter of the TCFD recommendations in September 2018.