The PSI after 10 years: Amplifying sustainable insurance in the UN’s Decade of Action

For Swiss Re as a global re/insurer, sustainability is a strategic and long-term value driver. Our vision of making the world more resilient cannot be realised without sustainability principles.

Swiss Re has committed to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 in our own operations, and by 2050 in our underwriting and investment portfolios.

To achieve net-zero emissions in our operations by 2030, we "do our best, remove the rest":

"Doing our best" means we double down on our efforts to avoid and reduce emissions.

• Since 2003, we have already managed to cut our emissions per employee by more than half.
• Under our CO2NetZero Programme, a special focus lies on our air travel emissions, which are currently responsible for two thirds of our operational carbon footprint.
• We have set ourselves the company-wide target of reducing our flight emissions by at least 50% in 2022, relative to the pre-COVID level of 2018.

"Removing the rest" means we support carbon removal projects to compensate any emissions we cannot yet avoid.

• To fund these carbon removal projects, we are pioneering in setting a meaningful real internal carbon levy of USD 100 to USD 200 per tonne of CO2 – the first triple-digit amount set by a multinational company on both direct and indirect emissions (such as business travel). An internal carbon price at this level also helps incentivizing emission reductions in the first place.
• In 2021 we partnered with carbon removal leader Climeworks, signing the world’s first long-term purchase agreement for direct air capture and storage, worth USD 10 million over ten years. As part of the collaboration, Swiss Re buys carbon removal services and gains access to the new carbon removal risk pool and asset class.

The Centre for Global Dialogue (CGD) is Swiss Re's premier platform for dialogue with our clients, partners, investors and further stakeholders. Every year, CGD hosts 400 to 500 onsite, hybrid and virtual conferences, meetings and programmes with tens of thousands of guests.

CGD has been run on a climate-neutral basis since 2003 (Greenhouse Neutral Programme) and we are now on the way to net zero by 2030 (CO2NetZero Programme). We will achieve this by avoiding and reducing emissions wherever possible and offsetting and removing any "residual" emissions we cannot yet avoid. Our goal is to balance all unavoidable "residual" emissions via carbon removal as we move from high-quality carbon offsets to 100% high-quality removal certificates by 2030.

To systematically manage and improve our environmental performance, Swiss Re's Corporate Real Estate and Services (CRES) division has an Environmental Management System in place which has been certified according to ISO 14001 since 2015.

How do we make CGD a more sustainable conference venue? 

Here are a few examples:

• International aviation: To reduce operational emissions, the most material source is air travel. The key opportunity for avoiding these emissions is through promoting overland travel as an alternative option to air travel for those guests where it is feasible and appropriate. If guests take a flight to get to CGD, we encourage them to fly "climate-friendly" by offsetting or removing their emissions.
• Local transportation: To avoid individual car use where possible, we promote low carbon transportation including public transport and electric taxis. For larger conferences, shuttle buses are operated during the event.
• Energy, water and waste management: CGD runs on 100% renewable energy. Swiss Re is a co-founder of the RE100 Initiative, a global corporate renewable energy initiative bringing together hundreds of large and ambitious businesses committed to 100% renewable electricity.
• Accommodation: All conferencing and hotel facilities at CGD are operated on a climate-neutral basis. For larger conferences where we also have guests staying at external hotels, we prioritise hotels that have adopted a wide-ranging approach to sustainability in the delivery of their services.
• Gastronomy: Swiss Re gastronomy has defined three sustainability goals for 2030: zero waste (no food and no packaging waste), net-zero emissions (in our gastronomy operations and the food we serve), and resilient food systems (prioritising partners that have a positive local impact, foster biodiversity and treat animals and people well).
• Sourcing: We drive sustainability in our supply chain with the EcoVadis platform, working towards our goal of having 100% of our Tier 1 and Tier 2 suppliers ESG-assessed. In 2021, we also launched our ESG Vendor Development Programme (VDP). As this is a new goal, it will be reported for the first time in 2022.

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