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2016 Corporate Responsibility Report

Review of our Corporate Responsibility Topics

Based on the sequence of steps described in How we determine materiality, we conducted a comprehensive review of the key Corporate Responsibility Topics we are faced with as a global re/insurer, and have developed a graphic Corporate Responsibility Map on this basis. All in all, the survey has revealed a high degree of continuity, but has also resulted in some important adjustments to the topics we want to address:

  • Seven topics we identified in the past remain highly relevant to our efforts as a responsible company;
  • For the topic “Empowering our people” we have chosen the more comprehensive description “Engaging our people”;
  • The topic “Empowering communities” has been added to the map to account for all the activities carried out by the Swiss Re Foundation;
  • Two topics we have so far addressed under other headings now appear as entries in their own right (“Investing responsibly” and “Reducing our environmental footprint”);
  • Finally, our review has led us to specify two new topics, “Advancing access to insurance” and “Navigating the digital transformation”.

Reflecting our two main insight sources and in line with current best practice, eg the recommendations of the Global Reporting Initiative (www.globalreporting.org), our Corporate Responsibility Map is structured along the two axes of “Stakeholder expectations” and “Relevance for Swiss Re” – in terms of the risks as well as the opportunities they may create. We have positioned all our Corporate Responsibility Topics within this map and classified them into “exploration”, “management” and “priority”.

These three terms express different stages of relevance and maturity:

Exploration: Topics with increasing relevance from an internal perspective and an expected increase in stakeholder inquiries. Warrant further analysis.

Management: Topics recognised as being relevant and for which we have well-established management procedures. Stakeholder interest in them varies, though.

Priority: Topics with high stakeholder expectations as well as high internal relevance. Require continuous high attention and effort.

Our Corporate Responsibility Map

Our Corporate Responsibility Map (illustration)

 

Commitment to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Swiss Re endorses the UN Agenda 2030. Many of our activities described in the present report contribute to one or several of the agenda’s 17 global goals, in particular:

  • Ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy (SDG 7);
  • Taking action to combat climate change and its impacts (SDG 13);
  • Ensuring sustainable consumption and production patterns (SDG 12);
  • Partnering for the goals (SDG 17).

We are currently exploring how we can further align our activities with the SDGs.