Climate Strategy

The climate strategy is part of Swiss Life’s sustainability strategy and the new Group-wide programme “Swiss Life 2024”. The sustainability strategy is oriented towards the following four fields of action: own business behaviour, the role as an asset owner and manager, the insurance and advisory business, and the role of employer. The first three areas are particularly relevant for Swiss Life’s climate strategy. In addition, Swiss Life is involved in dedicated networks and associations. For its targets relating to climate change, Swiss Life prioritises those areas in which a direct impact can be achieved.

Swiss Life recognises that climate change, if left unmitigated, will have negative effects on society and the global economy. Swiss Life is committed to playing an active role in contributing to the transition to a low-carbon and climate-resilient economy in line with the Paris Climate Agreement. Further, Swiss Life expects increased transparency requests from stakeholders (e.g. customers, regulators, supervisory authorities, investors and employees) regarding products and services as well as an increasing demand for sustainable products. Moreover, Swiss Life’s investments in securities, real estate and infrastructure might be affected by the physical impacts of climate change and the transition to a low-carbon and climate-resilient economy.

Swiss Life is therefore integrating sustainability and climate-related aspects into its existing risk management standards for the management of its business and assessing the actual and potential impacts of climate-related risks and opportunities on its business, strategy and financial planning. As climate-related risks are risk drivers on existing risk categories, Swiss Life can build on its existing comprehensive risk management standards for the identification, assessment and adequate management of climate-related risks and opportunities. Information on Swiss Life’s comprehensive risk management standards is available in section “Risk Management”. In section “Metrics and Targets” a selection of supporting metrics can be found.

Summary of potential impact of climate-related risks on risk categories of Swiss Life

Depending on the course of the transition to a low-carbon and climate-resilient economy, the effects already arising today of climate change and the measures to mitigate climate change may change in the medium and long term.

Time horizons for climate-related risks and opportunities of Swiss Life

For internal analyses of climate-related risks and opportunities, Swiss Life currently relies on a definition of the short-term time horizon that goes hand in hand with the strategic planning horizon and the Own Risk and Solvency Assessment (ORSA). The medium-term time horizon is currently aligned with the reduction target for real estate directly owned by proprietary insurance asset management (PAM) or, more generally, the current climate policy milestones. The definition of the long-term time horizon goes hand in hand with the transaction decisions for investments with longer time horizons, such as real estate and infrastructure investments, and with current climate policy developments.