11 ANNUAL REPORT 2010   OUR STRATEGY  STRATEGY SHARPENING OUR FOCUS Sustainability AEGON’s sustainability reporting Governance International commitments Parts of AEGON’s Sustainability 2010 - Report to  Stakeholders are audited by Ernst & Young, the  company’s external auditor. As part of its approach to sustainability, AEGON has  a number of international commitments: In addition, AEGON is listed in the Dow Jones  Sustainability World and European indexes for the  insurance industry, as well as the FTSE4Good, indexes  which measure the performance of leading companies  against recognized sustainability standards. AEGON  was ranked among the twenty highest performing  companies in the Netherlands in the Dutch  government’s 2010 Transparency Benchmark.  In October 2010, AEGON appointed Mr. Marc van Weede  as its first global head of Sustainability. In addition,  each of AEGON’s country and business units has  assigned responsibility for sustainability to a senior  manager, who oversees the implementation of local  policies and initiatives. Questions of strategy and  policy in this area are subject to approval by AEGON’s  Executive and Management Boards. The company’s  Supervisory Board also plays a key role in helping  monitor and developing overall strategy.  For more details on AEGON’s approach to  sustainability, please see the Sustainability  2010 – Report to Stakeholders, available online. AEGON’s annual Stakeholder Review helps to  determine which issues are material to the company’s  businesses, performance and strategy. The findings  are included in an annual Sustainability – Report to  Stakeholders, which charts the significance both to  AEGON and its stakeholders of various economic,  business and social issues.  AEGON believes these initiatives will further strengthen  confidence in the company, and help create long-term  value for all shareholders and investors.  As regards sustainability, AEGON has four main  stakeholder groups besides the company’s  shareholders. AEGON has framed a business ambition  for each group, and in each case the company is  implementing a number of initiatives to help achieve  that ambition by 2015. AEGON believes it makes a valuable contribution to  the wider community both as a provider of long-term  financial products and services and as a responsible  employer and investor. AEGON’s approach to  sustainability is based on the responsible management  of the company’s resources – financial, human or  material – ensuring AEGON is able to meet long-term  obligations to its customers and other stakeholders.  AEGON’s stakeholders ■ Customers.  Business ambition: to become the most  recommended financial services company.  Measures: company-wide principles for market  conduct, company-wide loyalty programs and rolling  out a system for measuring customer satisfaction. ■ Employees.  Business ambition: to become the most  preferred company by current and prospective  employees. Measures: a more global approach to  human resources, based on talent and performance  management, launch of global survey to measure  employee engagement.  ■  Business partners.  Business ambition: to become  the most preferred partner. Measure: extend  principles of market conduct to partnerships globally. ■  Wider community.  Business ambition: to become  the most respected and trusted fi nancial services  company for society. Measures: global responsible  investment policy, more targeted approach to  corporate donations, company-wide program to  manage resources more effectively.  ■ AEGON is a signatory to the Carbon Disclosure  Project, which encourages companies to be open  about their greenhouse gas emissions.  ■ AEGON Asset Management is also a signatory to  the United Nations’ Principles for Responsible  Investment and, in the United Kingdom, the  Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative, which  aims to strengthen governance in the international  oil, gas and minerals sector. AEGON supports the  Global Reporting Initiative, which develops  accepted and comparable standards for  sustainability reporting.  ■ AEGON also upholds the United Nations’ Universal  Declaration of Human Rights and subscribes to the  core standards of the International Labor  Organization and the principles on human rights  and labor standards contained in the UN Global  Compact. 