Engaging in partnership on climate change

In connection with the target of the Paris Agreement to limit global warming to well below 2°C, and preferably to 1.5°C, Swiss Re has signed two voluntary emissions-cutting commitments developed by private sector companies: the Paris Pledge for Action and the UN Global Compact Business Ambition for 1.5°C. We have followed up on this by making the following internal net-zero commitments:

• In our underwriting by 2050 (see "Extending our risk intelligence" chapter “Decarbonising our business model”)
• In our investment portfolio also by 2050, in connection with co-founding the UN-convened Net-Zero Asset Owners Alliance (see “Being a responsible investor” chapter, "How we engage")
• In our own operations by 2030 (see “Driving sustainable operations” chapter, "Our CO2NetZero Programme")

In 2021, we further stepped up our collaborative efforts by co-founding the UN-convened Net-Zero Insurance Alliance, (NZIA) (see “Decarbonising our business model”). The main focus of this alliance lies on decarbonising underwriting portfolios. It has been agreed that members will individually set science-based intermediate targets every five years and publicly report on their progress on an annual basis.

In the run-up to COP26 in Glasgow, we leveraged NZIA’s efforts by organising COP26 – Insurance leadership in the #racetozero, a high-level dialogue telecast live from our Centre for Global Dialogue.

As a member of the Alliance of CEO Climate Leaders, which is currently co-chaired by our Group CEO, we also signed an open letter to world leaders present at COP26. In the letter a total of over 90 CEOs of large multinational companies called on governments to take decisive action on bringing emissions to net zero and pledged their full support for a comprehensive public-private effort.