Principal Financial Group®: Integrating Sustainable Investing Practices
Originally published in Principal Financial Group 2024 Sustainability Report
Integrating sustainable investing practices
Our global investment philosophy
We aim to provide clients with sustainable investment options that offer competitive, risk-adjusted returns and utilize a holistic view of factors influencing risk and return to help create added value for clients over time.
Our approach
Our sustainable investing beliefs are grounded in fostering relationships with investors and communities by offering products and solutions that align with their values.
Our philosophy includes:
- Consideration of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) integration
- Creating sustainable investment products
- Engagement and stewardship
- Responsible proxy voting
Sustainable investing oversight and collaboration
Principal Asset ManagementSM has multiple levels of oversight and collaboration for sustainable investing. Our Sustainable Investing Oversight Committee helps assure implementation of funds and strategies in accordance with the appropriate sustainability-related definitions. Our Sustainable Investment Council supports the sharing of best practices among investment professionals when they’re constructing and managing client portfolios. Finally, our Sustainable Investing Team helps ensure our investment professionals have the information and resources they need to create and maintain sustainable investment products and solutions for clients.
- $712.1B: Principal Financial Group, Inc. total assets under management (AUM) in billions as of December 31, 2024
- $559.1B: Principal Asset Management – Investment Management1 managed AUM in billions as of December 31, 2024
For purposes of our sustainability report, as of December 31, 2024, the assets under management for Principal Financial Group were $712.1 billion, of which $559.1 billion is managed by Principal Asset Management - Investment Management and $124.3 billion is managed by Principal Asset Management - International Pension.
Our actions and performance in 2024
Throughout 2024 we continued advancing our sustainable investing efforts:
- Provided access to sustainable investing training to all Principal employees to empower them to understand our sustainable investment capabilities to better serve clients and customers.
- Firm’s sustainable investing AUM2 increased to approximately 63%, with market appreciation and client demand as contributing factors.
- Introduced an enhanced Principal Asset Management sustainable investing website that provides an improved user experience and a wider array of resources to help investors understand the crucial elements of our sustainable investing capabilities across the globe.
- Launched six new sustainable investment products based on client demand.
What’s next
In 2025, the European Union’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), climate regulations in California, and climate- related disclosures in Singapore all require insight into portfolio emissions. We are making progress on collecting and analyzing scope 3 emissions data. As the first CSRD reports are being published, we expect data coverage from underlying companies to continue to improve as a result.
To learn more, read the Principal Financial Group 2024 Sustainability Report.
Insurance products issued by Principal National Life Insurance Co (except in NY) and Principal Life Insurance Company®. Plan administrative services offered by Principal Life. Principal Funds, Inc. is distributed by Principal Funds Distributor, Inc. Securities offered through Principal Securities, Inc., member SIPC and/or independent broker/dealers. Referenced companies are members of the Principal Financial Group®, Des Moines, IA 50392.
1In the fourth quarter of 2024, we implemented changes to our Principal Asset Management segment to align the global operations by business function. Prior to the fourth quarter of 2024, our Principal Asset Management segment was organized into Principal Global Investors and Principal International. The Principal Asset Management segment, is now organized into Investment Management and International Pension. The change has been applied retrospectively, which did not have an impact on our consolidated financial statements. Principal Asset ManagementSM is the trade name of Principal Global Investors, LLC. See Important Information page 79 for AUM description.
2AUM representative of Principal Asset Management - Investment Management as of December 31, 2024. AUM that are sustainable investment products are internally classified by Principal Asset ManagementSM and not by any third party or regulatory body. Principal Asset ManagementSM is the trade name of Principal Global Investors, LLC. See Important Information page for AUM description.
