Environmental, Social and Governance
Macquarie’s ESG approach is structured around eight focus areas considered to be material to our business and stakeholders.
On an annual basis, we identify the ESG focus areas and topics most material to our business and stakeholders by assessing the environmental, social (including human rights) and economic impacts of our activities and business relationships.
We refer to the approach of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI 3: Material Topics 2021) to determine our ESG focus areas. This involves:
Macquarie’s ESG focus areas are:
Environmental and social (including human rights) risk management involves identifying, assessing, managing, mitigating and reporting material environmental and social risks across Macquarie.
Environmental and social risks have the potential to affect our business, the environment and the communities in which we operate. Assessing and managing environmental and social risks (including work health and safety risks) is a key business priority for Macquarie. Failure to effectively manage these risks could result in harm to communities, the environment and other external parties, and expose the organisation to regulatory, reputational and financial impacts.
As a global business, we have a role to play in promoting respect for human rights in our business activities and operations. Macquarie respects fundamental human rights as set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and codified in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and core International Labour Organization Conventions.
Macquarie applies a precautionary approach to environmental and social risk and seeks to make a positive contribution to environmental and social performance, including considering our direct and indirect impacts on:
Climate change refers to the long-term shifts in global temperatures and weather patterns. Climate change results in physical and transition impacts, risks and opportunities, including the need to develop adaptation and mitigation measures.
In its latest report , the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change noted that “human-caused climate change is already affecting many weather and climate extremes in every region across the globe. This has led to widespread adverse impacts and related losses and damages to nature and people.” “Limiting human-caused global warming requires net zero CO2 emissions.”1
At Macquarie, our response is rooted in our organisational purpose – to empower people to innovate and invest for a better future.
We believe we can contribute most positively to the challenges and opportunities of climate change mitigation and adaptation through the financing of practical solutions driven by the core capabilities of our teams.
Macquarie’s approach to climate is based around four areas of action. This includes reducing the emissions of our own business operations, and aligning our financing activity with the global goal of net zero by 2050.
Macquarie’s climate strategy is set out in our Net Zero and Climate Risk Report.
Across our operating groups, Macquarie is supporting a range of environmental and social financing activity under the following broad categories: financing and developing; advising; managing; researching and trading.
Rising temperatures, pollution, biodiversity loss, extreme weather events and social challenges are intrinsically linked, with social challenges further exacerbated by rising costs of living and international food and energy security concerns. To achieve practical environmental and social solutions, increasing volumes of finance are required.
Macquarie is seeing increasing client demands for capital, innovative financing solutions, and support for new technologies in the areas of global energy transition, energy security, transport and mobility, digital infrastructure, housing, education and healthcare. Macquarie continues to support clients seeking to manage and respond to these environmental and social challenges and capitalise on emerging opportunities.
In response to market opportunities and client needs, we draw on our sector expertise and global network to provide a diverse range of products and services, with ESG outcomes, to our clients. Our activities span the investment cycle from research on alternative energy to tailored capital solutions for the development and construction of renewable assets and social infrastructure.
Through our business relationships, we play a role in developing and promoting sustainable products and businesses across the globe. We support our clients, providing expertise and financial capital to assist them to respond to and capitalise on ESG related opportunities including renewable energy, clean technology and social infrastructure.
The environmental and social impacts of Macquarie’s own business operations predominantly relate to the energy and resources we consume in our offices and data centres, business travel, and our procurement activities.
Managing the environmental and social impacts of our own business operations supports our core business and our responsibility to clients, shareholders, employees, and the communities in which we operate.
We seek to manage these impacts by monitoring and reducing our operational emissions, developing innovative and sustainable workplaces, being efficient with energy and resource use, and improving the sustainability and diversity of our supply chain.
We are continuing to purchase carbon credits to offset residual Scope 1 emissions that are difficult to abate and we continue to offset our Scope 3 Category 6 business travel emissions.1 We have also sourced the equivalent of 100% of our electricity consumption from renewable sources through a combination of renewable energy from building owners or utilities and energy attribute certificates.
Macquarie’s 2025 Sustainability Plan articulates our corporate sustainability commitments with specific and measurable targets across environmental and social pillars.
Macquarie’s relationships with our clients and customers, and their trust in us, is central to our business and future success. Macquarie focuses on delivering exceptional outcomes, services and customer experiences, continuously building on the trust and confidence in our organisation.
Macquarie relies on building and maintaining enduring relationships with our co‑investors and corporate, institutional, government and retail clients across all our Operating Groups. In meeting the responsibilities that come with owning and managing public assets, we seek to manage our investments and managed funds’ portfolio companies for long term success for the benefit of our clients.
We are committed to ensuring that our products are marketed appropriately and that our clients are treated fairly. We have implemented policies and procedures to ensure that consumer complaints are handled in an appropriate and time efficient manner and agreements do not contain provisions that may be considered unfair. We have a Customer Advocate responsible for promoting fair and reasonable customer complaint outcomes, reviewing and assisting with determining escalated customer complaints, and providing a customer-centric voice when making recommendations to improve customer experience.
We foster a culture that welcomes diverse ideas and perspectives and empowers individuals to challenge what’s possible in an environment that values inclusion, collaboration, innovation and creativity. Macquarie continues to meet our stakeholders’ evolving expectations, by equitably supporting employee development and wellbeing.
By supporting our people’s development and wellbeing, we ensure Macquarie continues to meet the highest standards and serves the evolving needs of our stakeholders.
As a services business, the diversity of our people is one of Macquarie’s greatest strengths. An inclusive, equitable workplace enables us to deliver more innovative and sustainable solutions for our people, clients, customers, shareholders and communities. Our inclusive culture and equity commitment support our purpose of ‘Empowering people to innovate and invest for a better future’.
Our focus is on attracting, engaging, developing and retaining talented individuals, providing opportunities for career-long learning and development and providing safe workplaces within an inclusive culture that values diversity, equity and inclusion.
Macquarie strives to create an environment where continuous learning is part of an employee’s career development and recognises the benefits to the individual and the wider organisation of such investment.
We are making positive progress to increase diverse representation at all levels of Macquarie and sustain an inclusive workplace for all our people but we still have work to do.
As a global financial services provider we operate in a highly regulated environment. We are committed to conducting our business in accordance with all applicable laws and regulations and in a way that enhances our reputation in the market and supports local regulators in achieving their objectives.
A failure to manage legal and regulatory risks can have a material impact on our clients and the markets in which we operate, and on our business and reputation.
Macquarie’s organisational culture drives the way we do business, and our expectations of our people are outlined in Macquarie's Code of Conduct. Our principles of Opportunity, Accountability and Integrity determine how we conduct business.
Macquarie’s purpose ‘Empowering people to innovate and invest for a better future’ represents why we exist and what we do. We believe that by empowering people – our employees, clients, communities, shareholders and partners – we will achieve our shared potential.
The Macquarie Group Foundation (the Foundation) drives social impact work for Macquarie Group, supporting our people, businesses, and communities to build a better future.
Supporting the communities in which we live and work has been an important part of Macquarie’s activities since our inception in 1969. In that time, our people have devoted their time and skills to supporting non-profit organisations around the world, to drive social change at the local community level. This remains an important part of our culture today.
The Foundation encourages our people to give back to the community by contributing service, financial support and leadership to the causes that matter to them. Macquarie provides a range of benefits for our people including:
As well as providing advice on philanthropic giving, the Foundation is partnering with Macquarie businesses to integrate a shared value approach into existing business models and identify upcoming projects that can deliver both increased social impact and enhanced commercial advantage.
The Foundation supports community organisations through its global focus on breaking down barriers to employment, its commitment to promoting a more equitable and just society for underrepresented people and its special grants programs.
We recognise that many people around the world face systemic barriers to employment and as such, the majority of the Foundation’s grantmaking and social impact investment focus on breaking down these barriers and building pathways to economic security.
Clear dialogue with stakeholders is important for building strong relationships, understanding external dynamics, earning and maintaining trust, enhancing business performance and evolving our ESG approach. We regularly engage with a broad range of stakeholders including clients, customers, shareholders, investors, analysts, governments, regulators, employees, suppliers and the wider community.
Our engagement with stakeholders helps identify and validate the ESG focus areas described above. Our eight overarching ESG focus areas are comprised of more specific material topics. The ESG focus areas and material topics that sit under them were identified during Macquarie’s materiality assessment.
The following section sets out a list of our key stakeholders, how we engage with them, the key topics that they tell us matter most to them, and how this translates into our ESG focus areas.
The previous section, which lists Macquarie’s focus areas, also includes further details on how we respond to them.
| Key engagement channels | Key matters raised | How we responded |
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Refer to the following sections of the ESG Report: Managing environmental and social risk, Climate change, Environmental and social financing, and Client and customer experience |
| Key engagement channels | Key matters raised | How we responded |
|---|---|---|
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Refer to the following sections of the ESG Report: Environmental and social financing, Client and customer experience, and Business conduct and ethics |
| Key engagement channels | Key matters raised | How we responded |
|---|---|---|
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Refer to the following sections of the ESG Report: Managing environmental and social risk, Climate change, Environmental and social financing, Sustainability in our own business operations, and Client and customer experience |
| Key engagement channels | Key matters raised | How we responded |
|---|---|---|
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Refer to the following section of the Annual Report: Diversity, equity and inclusion and the following sections of the ESG Report: People and workplace, Business conduct and ethics, |
| Key engagement channels | Key matters raised | How we responded |
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Refer to the following sections of the ESG Report: Managing environmental and social risk, Climate change, Client and customer experience, and Business conduct and ethics |
| Key engagement channels | Key matters raised | How we responded |
|---|---|---|
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Refer to the following sections of the ESG Report: Managing environmental and social risk, Human rights, Climate change Environmental and social financing, and Sustainability in our own business operations |
| Key engagement channels | Key matters raised | How we responded |
|---|---|---|
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Refer to the following section of the ESG Report: Managing environmental and social risk Refer to the following section of the Annual Report: Macquarie Group Foundation |
More information on each of the focus areas is available on the Environmental, Social and Governance pages of our website and in Macquarie Group’s ESG Report which can also be downloaded from the website.
