New Report Highlights MetLife's Integrated Strategy To Build a More Sustainable Future
MetLife’s annual Sustainability Report, released today, showcases how the company continues to integrate sustainability across its operations, including through its 2030 climate and 2030 diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) commitments.
In the report, MetLife also provides information on its commitment to achieve net zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across the company’s global operations and general account investment portfolio by 2050 or sooner.[1] The net zero pledge builds upon MetLife’s existing 2030 sustainability commitments, which include 11 climate goals established in 2020, as well as a robust set of 2030 DEI commitments established in March 2022. The financial components of the DEI commitments total more than $2.5 billion by 2030.
Recognizing the inextricable link between social and environmental issues, MetLife is deploying the full strength of its people, products, services, and investments to holistically address the unmet needs of communities around the world.
“As a global insurer, we’ve been committed to serving as a force for good in our communities for more than 150 years,” said MetLife Chief Sustainability Officer Jon Richter. “By aligning our efforts to the UN Sustainable Development Goals and incorporating sustainability into our business, we’re making real impact today and for the long term.”
MetLife uses the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to focus its efforts, prioritizing five that have particular relevance to the company’s role as a global insurer:
- Decent Work and Economic Growth (SDG #8)
- Good Health and Well-Being (SDG #3)
- Reduced Inequalities (SDG #10)
- Gender Equality (SDG #5)
- Climate Action (SDG #13)
The report aligns to a number of third-party frameworks including the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board, Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures, the Global Reporting Initiative and the United Nations Global Compact.
Recent sustainability highlights covered in MetLife’s report include:
- Originating over $6 billion in new green investments and MetLife Foundation providing more than $1 million in climate-focused grants
- Maintaining carbon neutrality, which MetLife has done since becoming the first U.S.-based insurer to achieve that status in 2016
- Reducing GHG emissions by 21% between 2020 and 2021 and planting more than 200,000 trees around the world since 2020
- Achieving top-quartile performance in the industry for workforce diversity across each ethnically and racially diverse category in the U.S. and for female officers globally
- Joining the Human Rights Campaign’s Business Coalition for the Equality Act
- Expanding the company’s talent sponsorship program, EXCELERATE, globally to advance the development of high-potential diverse leaders
- MetLife Foundation’s fulfillment of its three-year, $5 million commitment to advance racial equity in the United States
To read the 2021 Sustainability Report and learn more about MetLife’s commitments and progress, visit https://sustainabilityreport.metlife.com/report/.
# # #
1. In 2022, MetLife, Inc. made the commitment to take the company’s carbon neutrality commitment a step further by targeting net zero emissions for global operations and its general account investment portfolio by 2050 or sooner. The net zero commitment applies to GHG emissions from MetLife, Inc.’s owned and leased offices across the world, automobile fleets, employee business travel and assets in MetLife's general account investment portfolio, which includes the general accounts of MetLife, Inc.’s wholly owned insurance company subsidiaries, where data and methodologies are available. Emissions are tracked and reported in accordance with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol. Read more about MetLife’s climate commitments online. Additional information about MetLife’s general account investment portfolio is available here. MetLife is committed to identifying, measuring and analyzing climate data, as well as risks and opportunities, as measurements and standards evolve. While the exact technologies, policies and strategies to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions are not known at this time and many uncertainties remain, MetLife will continue to strive to be a force for good in the world.
Media Contact
Rachel Pokay
331-452-4122
Forward-Looking Statements
The forward-looking statements in this news release, using words such as “commitment,” “pledge,” “total,” and “will” are based on assumptions and expectations that involve risks and uncertainties, including the “Risk Factors” MetLife, Inc. describes in its U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings. MetLife’s future results could differ, and it does not undertake any obligation to correct or update any of these statements.
