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2014 Corporate Responsibility Report

Collaboration with (inter-)governmental and academic institutions

We collaborate with various (inter-)governmental and academic institutions both to promote effective approaches to sustainability challenges and to share our expertise on managing specific risks.

Working with (inter-)governmental agencies to promote effective sustainability responses

  • In Europe, we worked with Insurance Europe in Brussels on the European Commission’s Green Paper on the Insurance of Natural and Man-Made Disasters: In addition to regular involvement in exchanges and feedback, one of our senior managers took part in discussions with the European Commission;
  • In the US, we maintain regular dialogue with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), principally on climate change and natural catastrophes;
  • In Switzerland, we provide a committee member of the OcCC (Organe consultatif sur les changements climatiques), an advisory body on climate change set up by the Swiss Federal Administration.

Working with (inter-)governmental agencies to share risk management expertise

  • With Global Partnerships, we have an entity that works strategically with public-sector bodies to improve risk resilience:
    • directly with governments, recently eg with the Government of Uruguay to create a solution providing cover for drought conditions that affect hydropower generation, with the State Council of China to improve resilience against natural catastrophe risks, or through the Pacific Catastrophe Risk Insurance Pilot (see chapter “Strengthening risk resilience: highlights of 2014”);
    • with the United Nation’s International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) in a consulting role;
    • with development agencies such as the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID), the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) or the German Development Bank (KfW);
  • We regularly contribute to platforms such as the World Economic Forum, B20, G20 and G8 to share our insights on key risks, and support the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) process;
  • We recently contributed to the World Economic Forum’s Global Risks reports (see section “Strategic risk initiatives” for the 2014 edition).

Working with academic institutions

  • We support the Integrative Risk Management project at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich, which aims to advance a holistic approach to managing risks and educate a new generation of researchers;
  • As a member of the steering committee of Swiss-based ProClim – the Forum for Climate and Global Change – we support integrated research activities and get access to the latest scientific findings;
  • Through our co-chairmanship of the PSI Board, we cooperate with Temple University on the role of insurance in improving society’s risk resilience.