Overarching approach

Swiss Re is a long-term investor. Therefore, it follows that we take a long-term view on the risk factors that may have an adverse impact on our investment portfolio.

At the core of our approach to tackling ESG related risks in investments is the Sustainability Risk Framework (see “Our Sustainability Risk Framework”). This framework enables us to identify and analyse potential ESG risks within an investment and to ensure we are aligned with our governance structure.

The framework consists of eight policies on sensitive topics: the defence industry, oil and gas (including oil sands), mining, dams, animal testing, forestry and logging, nuclear weapons proliferation, and an overarching human rights and environmental protection policy. Each policy contains a number of predefined criteria and qualitative standards that may lead to the exclusion of a company or a country from our investment scope.

Swiss Re’s Asset Management unit strictly applies these criteria to the vast majority of our investment assets, excluding companies and countries if they do not meet the predefined criteria and qualitative standards.