Human rights & social issues: L&G Asset Management, Labour relations

Since the 2015 Diesel-gate scandal, L&G has maintained constructive dialogue with Volkswagen on human rights and social issues. Recently, when forced labour allegations emerged regarding its Urumqi joint venture plant in Xinjiang, MSCI flagged Volkswagen with a red controversy flag in late 2022 to highlight concerns about the plant. Legal and General Asset Management then intensified discussions with Volkswagen’s senior management—including the CFO, Head of Treasury and Investor Relations to gain clarity on the issues and encourage swift remedial action. In December 2023, Volkswagen commissioned an independent audit of its Urumqi plant, which effectively addressed the key concerns and resulted in MSCI removing the red controversy flag. In 2024, Legal and General Asset Management continued its productive dialogue to monitor long-term governance and human rights improvements.

At time of publishing, May 2025, L&G are one of our partners on our UK Property and Active Passive portfolios