EU Taxonomy Information for the Insurance Group
This section summarises key figures relating to investments according to Art. 8 of the EU Taxonomy Regulation.
As part of Art. 8 of the EU Taxonomy Regulation, Swiss Life is publishing metrics on taxonomy eligible investments as at 31 December 2022 for the two environmental objectives climate mitigation and climate change adaptation. The following EU Taxonomy metrics apply equally to both environmental objectives. As the Swiss parent of EU companies, Swiss Life voluntarily publishes the metrics on behalf of its EU subsidiaries.
The investments to be classified according to the EU Taxonomy Regulation comprise all on-balance sheet investments1 with the exception of government, central bank and supranational issued securities. In the chart above, this corresponds – for corporate bonds, real estate and equities – to the total quantity of the pie chart.
Government, central banks and supranational issuers account for around 15% of total investments. Derivatives account for around 1% of total investments. As at 31 December 2022, the classified investments in the corporate bonds (22%), real estate (19%) and equities (18%) asset classes total 63% of the investments to be classified. The eligibility of the other investments to be classified according to the EU Taxonomy Regulation, such as infrastructure, cannot be determined due to insufficient data.
Currently, 8% of the investments to be classified are eligible (of which corporate bonds: 2%, real estate: 5%, and equities: 1%). 14% of the investments to be classified are not eligible (corporate bonds: 8%, real estate: 0%, and equities: 6%). 41% of the classified investments are investments in companies that do not fall within the scope of the European Non-Financial Reporting Directive (NFRD) (marked in the chart as non-NFRD; corporate bonds 13%, real estate 17% and equities 11%). Taking into account the amendments to the Delegated Regulation as regards economic activities in certain energy sectors and as regards specific public disclosures for those economic activities, Swiss Life calculates the eligible and non-eligible portions in the fossil gas and nuclear energy-related activities for corporate bonds and equities. The eligible portion in the areas of fossil gas and nuclear energy amounts to less than 1%. The non-eligible share2 in fossil gas and nuclear energy-related activities is also below 1%. In this context, Swiss Life focuses on companies that fall within the scope of the NFRD. Overall, valuation on the basis of the fair value approach was used to determine EU Taxonomy-related metrics for investments. Securities (corporate bonds and equities) are allocated on the basis of the EU Taxonomy Compass (NACE3 code mapping) and the companies’ respective turnover. The sustainability strategy, product design processes and engagement with clients and counterparties are explained in the sections “Sustainability Strategy”, “Sustainability as an Asset Owner and Manager” and “Sustainability in Insurance and Advisory”. Aspects of climate change mitigation and climate change adaptation are highlighted in the TCFD Report.
EU Taxonomy Regulation
In June 2020, the Taxonomy Regulation was published in the Official Journal of the EU. The Regulation implements a classification system that can be used to define business activities, services and products as sustainable. According to the Regulation, a business activity or product is sustainable if it contributes substantially to climate change mitigation and adaptation (two of the EU’s priority environmental targets) while not having a significantly negative impact on these two objectives or four other EU environmental targets (circular economy, water protection, waste prevention, biodiversity), complies with minimum social protection requirements and meets technical criteria.
1 Investments from unit-linked contracts are included in the analysis.
2 Takes into account fossil gas and nuclear energy for electricity generation.
3 Nomenclature statistique des activités économiques dans la Communauté européenne (economic classification system)