Op­er­a­tional en­vi­ron­men­tal man­age­ment

As in previous years, the SIA surveyed insurance companies to gather information about their operational environmental management. The results represent benchmarks for corporate environmental management in the insurance industry.

In the interests of comparability, the data is presented per full-time equivalent (FTE) employee. This year, a greater number of companies supplied reliable data that could be evaluated, and some were able to provide additional data for 2019 and 2020. This limits comparability with the figures for 2020, but it does enable us to evaluate the previous year’s data more effectively and explains the differences versus last year’s report.

Various parameters are quantified to calculate the carbon footprint, such as heating energy, power, water, paper, waste and business travel distances.

Large companies, which have more staff and tend to operate internationally, have a greater influence on overall performance than their smaller counterparts. It is therefore encouraging to see that the companies participating in the survey for the first time in the year under review come more from small and medium-sized bracket.

Although the biggest impact that the industry can have on mitigating climate change lies in risk management, its core business and its investments, it is also important for insurers to monitor and improve their own environmental footprint.

Most companies produce an annual report on their operational sustainability performance as a means of quantifying their environmental impact and measuring progress in a transparent way. In doing so, they apply the standards from the Association for Environmental Management and Sustainability in Financial Institutions (VfU) and the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol.

By contrast, larger companies apply their own group-wide standards. These developments have further professionalised how the industry approaches operational environmental management.

Various parameters are quantified to calculate the carbon footprint, such as heating energy, power, water, paper, waste and business travel distances. The individual companies convert their primary consumption, which is measured in various units (kWh, m3, km, etc.), into CO₂ equivalents based on predefined criteria. This enables conclusions to be drawn as to how much a specific form of consumption contributes to global warming.

The industry’s carbon footprint per FTE employee shrank slightly, down 2 per cent year on year. The footprint per FTE has been cut by an average of 16 per cent since 2019, with the trend slowing slightly this year compared with the previous year. This shows that the companies have taken measures to improve their carbon footprints and are striving to contribute to reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. However, the pandemic continued to exert a strong influence in 2021 and, alongside the measures taken by the companies, it was central to the sharp decrease in the figures recorded.

Building energy consumption has decreased by around one-third over the last three years, reaching 3,309 kWh per FTE in 2021. At the same time, the share of renewable energy within purchased power increased slightly, up three percentage points year on year. Although there were more heating days in Switzerland in 2021, heating energy consumption fell by 10 per cent compared with the previous year.

Large companies are increasingly operating of their own power generation facilities to heat and cool their buildings using renewable energy.

One reason for this is that companies are gradually modernising their office buildings and making them more energy-efficient. Another factor is that large companies are increasingly operating of their own power generation facilities to heat and cool their buildings using renewable energy. This self-generated power is only partially included in the companies’ environmental performance data.

Compared with 2020, companies continued to make significant reductions in their water, paper and waste levels. There is no data to show the extent to which the move to home working is reflected in the figures. The largest reduction was in the volume of waste produced, which dropped by 45 per cent.

Despite Covid-19 restrictions being eased somewhat in Switzerland, business travel did not return to 2019 levels. It is encouraging to see that emissions continued to fall compared with 2020.

It is encouraging to see that emissions continued to fall compared with 2020.

The biggest decrease was seen in air travel, where there was a 17 per cent reduction. This was the result of a decrease in international business travel thanks to greater digitalisation. Where companies are based continues to affect which mode of transport is chosen: Businesses with international operations, for instance, have a much higher share of air travel.

The relative shift from air travel to cars and public transport observed in the year under review suggests that employees were increasingly returning to on-site working as Covid-19 restrictions were eased and that sales forces returned to advising customers in person.

The companies are putting a variety of measures in place to reduce the CO2 emissions produced by car travel, such as cutting the number of vehicles used by the sales team, using car clubs such as Mobility, installing electric vehicle charging points and implementing targeted measures to encourage the use of public transport and cycling.

They can cut their emissions even further by offering flexible working conditions that remove the need for commuting.

In addition to transitioning to renewable energy sources (e.g. lake water for heating and cooling) and generating power on site, office buildings are increasingly being built to sustainable building standards such as Minergie.

Some insurers are now positioning themselves on the market as carbon-neutral because they are offsetting the emissions from their operations.

Not only does this make them extremely energy-efficient, but it also helps the properties to preserve their value long-term. Many companies are saving resources and reducing waste by giving up plastic and single-use tableware. Some insurers are now positioning themselves on the market as carbon-neutral because they are offsetting the emissions from their operations, while other companies intend to introduce offsetting measures in 2022. A number of insurers are taking their climate protection efforts a step further by getting involved in foundations and associations such as the Swiss Climate Foundation (Schweizer Klimastiftung) and CEO4Climate.