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Annual Report 2017

Re/insurance

Annual expected losses (AEL)

AEL for weather-related natural perils can be used as an indicator for our average current climate-related risk exposure, while it does not capture the potential losses in years with intense natural catastrophe activity like 2017. (In the Insurane risk section you can see our risk exposures to four major natural catastrophe scenarios, ie single event losses with a 200-year return period.) The figures are the compound result of the expected weather activities, the vulnerability of insured objects, their values and the volume and structure of our insurance products. Changes in the AEL figures will show the evolution of our climate risk exposure. This could be due to climate change, but also due to changes in the vulnerability of insured objects, their values or changes in our business strategy. AEL figures are updated on an annual basis.

As per end of 2017, the four weather-related perils with the highest gross annual expected loss for our whole business were:

Weather-related catastrophes: insured vs uninsured losses

There is a substantial “protection gap” between total economic losses from weather-related catastrophes and insured losses in all regions. These data do not represent a company-specific metric but are an important overall risk indicator (see graph below).

Climate protection offered to (sub-)sovereigns

Cover against natural catastrophes accounts for approximately 14% of premiums in our P&C Reinsurance business. As we regularly update our risk models to reflect any changes in the underlying parameters and renew contracts annually, we are in position to offer our clients effective re/insurance protection against current climate-related risks.

Reflecting our efforts to help expand re/insurance protection by working with public-sector clients, we made this commitment to the United Nations: to advise up to 50 sovereigns and sub-sovereigns on climate risk resilience and to offer them USD 10 billion against this risk by 2020. You can see the progress we have made against this goal in the second table below.

Aligning our carbon intensity

We have recently started to develop a carbon business steering mechanism. This will help us to steer the overall carbon footprint embedded in our re/insurance business and align it to the Paris Climate Agreement and related Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), set with a view to limiting global warming to 1.5–2°C above pre-industrial levels.

Weather-related perils: Annual expected losses, swiss re group

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Insured vs uninsured weather-related catastrophe losses, per region

in USD bn, at 2017 prices

Insured vs uninsured weather-related catastrophe losses, per region (line + bar chart)

Climate protection offered to (sub-)sovereigns

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2015

2016

2017

Number of (sub-)sovereigns advised

13

26

66

Amount of climate protection offered (in USD)

2.1 billion

3.9 billion

5.3 billion

Scope 1, 2 and 3 greenhouse gas emissions

Reducing our carbon footprint is one of the four pillars of our climate strategy. As part of the Greenhouse Gas Programme, we have publicly reported on our Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions plus a major source of Scope 3 emissions (business travel) since its launch in 2003. From 2013, we have expanded our reporting to include further Scope 3 emissions (see table below).

You can find out more about the Greenhouse Neutral Programme in our 2017 Corporate Responsibility Report.

CO2 emissions per employee (full-time equivalent, FTE), Swiss Re Group

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2013 kg/FTE

2016 kg/FTE

2017 kg/FTE

Change in % since 2016

Change in % since 2013

1

Calculation based on a market-based approach taking into account the purchase of renewable energy instruments, with the exception of the UK where the government requires companies to report an average grid factor.

2

Commuting data are gathered bi-annually by means of a survey. The figures are rounded and fraught with considerable uncertainty.

Scope 1

Heating

378

305

264

–13.4

–30.2

Scope 2

Power1

824

877

651

–25.8

–21.0

Scope 3

Business travel

3 713

4 109

4 126

0.4

11.1

 

Copy paper

40

24

17

–29.2

–57.5

 

Waste

50

41

34

–17.0

–32.0

 

Water

12

12

12

0

0

 

Technical gases

27

21

21

0

–22.2

 

Commuting2

1 250

1 150

1 050

–8.7

–16.0

Total

 

6 294

6 539

6 175

–5.6

–1.9