Manulife has released its 2025 Sustainability Report and 2025 Public Accountability Statement, outlining how the group is aligning its "Impact Agenda" with priorities in health, financial resilience and climate.
The Toronto-headquartered life insurer and asset manager said the documents detail its approach, performance, and achievements against its sustainability strategy at a time when regulators, investors, and ratings agencies are paying closer attention to how insurers manage longevity risk, climate exposure, and social impact.
A major focus of the 2025 report is longevity and the widening gap between how long people live and how long they remain healthy and financially secure. That gap has direct implications for product design, liability management, and capital, particularly in retirement and health-related lines.
Manulife highlighted the launch of the Manulife Longevity Institute to advance research, thought leadership, innovation, advocacy, and community partnerships focused on longevity. The company has committed $350 million through 2030 to support the initiative, which it said is aimed at helping people live longer, healthier, and more financially secure lives.
Manulife also reported expanded community and employee engagement as part of its Impact Agenda.
According to the report, employees contributed more than 49,000 volunteer hours across 18 countries in 2025, supported by paid volunteer time, company matching, and Manulife’s global Impact Hub. Employee giving reached $8.8 million. The company said these programs are one way it is trying to support financial resilience and inclusion in its core markets.
Financial education work is increasingly linked to long-term business objectives. Higher baseline financial literacy can support more informed product choices, influence savings and protection behaviors, and potentially improve persistency. It may also help build future talent pipelines into finance and insurance.
Manulife also highlighted a multi-year commitment to Ownership Works, which promotes employee share ownership programs aimed at broadening wealth-building opportunities and strengthening financial wellness and literacy. For carriers, wider employee ownership is often positioned as a tool for retention, engagement, and culture, particularly in specialist and technical roles.
On the research side, Manulife used the 2025 publications to highlight new data on longevity and care needs.
The inaugural Longevity Preparedness Index, launched in collaboration with MIT AgeLab, sets benchmarks for how US adults prepare for longer lives across eight dimensions of longevity preparedness. Manulife said insights from the index are intended to inform how it supports customers across those dimensions.
The company also released findings from its 2025 Asia Care Survey, which it said showed that people across Asia are increasingly prioritizing quality of life, financial independence, and aging with dignity as life expectancy rises.
This type of data feeds directly into product and distribution strategy. In markets facing rapid population aging, life and health insurers are under pressure to address gaps in retirement income, long-term care, and health coverage, while responding to shifting expectations around independence and dignity in later life. Surveys and indices that track preparedness and attitudes can influence underwriting assumptions, marketing approaches, advice models, and wellness offerings.
Manulife also pointed to its “Innovating for Asia’s Demographic Future Challenge,” run with UpLink and the Centre for Financial and Monetary Systems, which selected 10 ventures with scalable solutions to support healthier, longer lives across Asia. Three top innovators received a combined $200,000 in prize funding to help accelerate their growth. Such innovation challenges effectively function as an external R&D channel, giving access to emerging technologies and models that may later inform partnerships, pilots, or investments.
On the environmental side, Manulife reported progress on initiatives tied to climate resilience and nature.
The company said it has established Manulife Impact Forests, described as a global network of restoration sites intended to support climate resilience, biodiversity, and community benefits. According to the report, the initiative now spans five countries and has restored more than 160 hectares of land.
Manulife also said it became the first life and health insurer to support a national nature prescription program, helping expand PaRx, the BC Parks Foundation’s initiative that enables healthcare professionals to prescribe time in nature. Through this partnership, Manulife said more than 4,000 healthcare professionals will be able to prescribe time in nature, potentially connecting over 670,000 participants with health and well-being benefits.
Insurance professionals will be watching how these stated priorities show up in product mix, investment allocations, and day-to-day underwriting and claims practices over the next few years.
“Empowering health, wealth, and longevity is central to Manulife's strategy. It aligns with our values and our commitment to the communities where we operate. As a global life insurer and asset manager, we are uniquely placed to help individuals and families navigate the growing gap between lifespan and healthspan,” said Brian Kernohan, chief sustainability officer, Manulife Investment Management, and acting global chief sustainability officer, Manulife. “In 2025, Manulife took meaningful steps to help people live longer, healthier, and more financially secure. This progress was made possible through new and expanded community investments, continued colleague initiatives, and focused actions that strengthen our ability to deliver on our priorities.”
