In business activities

Operational ecology comprises the operational environmental management of the Swiss Life Group at its own locations and the emissions arising from its business behaviour and own employees.

Climate-related targets within the operational ecology of the Swiss Life Group

CO₂ emissions

Swiss Life aims to reduce its CO₂ emissions per FTE by 35% by the end of 2024 compared to 2019, primarily by cutting emissions from travel and obtaining electricity from sustainable sources. As part of its investment cycles, Swiss Life also intends to further reduce fossil fuel use for heating company buildings. These targets are also part of the Group-wide “Swiss Life 2024” programme.

Operational activities at Swiss Life have been net zero since 2022. The measured, unavoidable CO₂ emissions from operational ecology are neutralised by certified projects in the core European markets (Switzerland, France and Germany). Further information about these projects is available in the Swiss Life section of the First Climate website (www.firstclimate.com/id85083429). Swiss Life supports projects that contribute not only to reducing CO₂ but also to preserving biodiversity, for example through forest conservation/reafforestation, biochar and the restoration of moorland areas.

In 2022, Swiss Life further standardised its recording of environmental indicators. Since 2021, the company has used a Group-wide company manual and data acquisition software for environmental indicators and is continuing to develop them in a targeted manner. The data acquisition software also facilitates active monitoring of environmental indicators. This has significantly improved the quality and accuracy of data capture and emission calculations. CO₂ emissions are recorded in accordance with the internationally recognised standards of the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol Corporate Standard. The CO₂ emissions of all Swiss Life business locations are calculated using emission factors from the Ecoinvent and Ademe scientific databases. The science-based CO₂ equivalents used for determining these values cover all relevant greenhouse gases:

• Scope 1 emissions comprise fuel consumption for heating buildings and for the company’s own fleet of vehicles.
• Scope 2 emissions comprise consumption of purchased electricity and district heating at the business locations.
• Swiss Life currently has four Scope 3 emissions categories:
• Category 1 “Purchased Goods and Services” comprises paper consumption and water procurement at the operating sites. Other purchased services (such as server capacity) that are also relevant for Swiss Life are not yet included in this category.
• Category 3 “Fuel- and Energy-Related Activities” comprises the upstream processes for the production of the purchased building energy that are not included in Scopes 1 and 2.
• Category 5 “Waste Generated in Operations” comprises emissions resulting from the disposal of waste at the business locations.
• Category 6 “Business Travel” comprises the kilometres employees travel for business by train, car or plane.

The other categories are either not relevant for Swiss Life or the data is not yet available in a satisfactory quality. Category 7 “Employee Commuting” is among the Scope 3 emissions relevant to Swiss Life but not recorded. The categories 13 “Downstream leased assets” and 15 “Investments” are covered. For these two categories, the weighted average carbon intensity values are reported.

The environmental indicators for 2022 were audited by an independent auditor.

Swiss Life reports adjustments to its 2022 environmental indicators as a result of acquisitions, the sale of subsidiaries and the ongoing review of projections and emission factors.

The main changes are as follows:

• On the acquisition of elipsLife by Swiss Life International on 1 July 2022, the Zurich (182 FTE as at 31 December 2022) and Netherlands (89 FTE as at 31 December 2022) locations were integrated on a pro rata basis with the corresponding environmental indicators.
• Since the last reporting period, Swiss Life has also provided environmental figures for two additional new locations: the Swiss Life Asset Managers branch in Norway (46 FTE as at 31 December 2022) and Swiss Life Germany’s new career campus in Hanover (KCH) (119 FTE as at 31 December 2022).
• Due to the sale of the subsidiary Livit FM Services in Switzerland (466 FTE as at 31 December 2021) by Swiss Life Asset Managers on 1 January 2022, its locations, along with the corresponding environmental indicators, were excluded.
• Owing to the sale of the French Cegema entity (165 FTE as at 31 December 2022) by Swiss Life France on 1 November 2022, this location was excluded along with the corresponding environmental indicators.
• The emission factors for rail transport have been updated to the current and location-specific values in the Ecoinvent scientific databases.

The extraordinary circumstances due to the Covid-19 pandemic normalised during the year under review. The number of staff working in office buildings has gone up and the number of business trips has increased due to the lifting of restrictions (+14% per FTE). In the aftermath of the pan­demic, mobile working has become more firmly established in the corporate culture. Swiss Life has thus also continued to drive digitalisation measures, such as projects to support advisory processes. As a result, there have been further reductions in paper consumption compared to the last three years (–14% per FTE). Energy consumption continued to fall year-on-year (–8% per FTE); this was due on the one hand to the cessation of increased ventilation and heating requirements during the pandemic and on the other hand to increased awareness campaigns in connection with energy scarcity. Overall, total emissions per FTE increased by 9% compared to the previous year. This was due among other things to a one-off boat trip in Germany that served as an incentive (2520 t CO₂ equivalents).

Since 2021, all electricity used by Swiss Life has originated from renewable energy sources. By the end of 2024, Swiss Life intends to reduce total emissions per FTE by 35% compared to 2019. By the end of 2022, total emissions per FTE were 34% lower than in 2019.

Further information can be found in the Sustainability Report (section “Operational ecology”).

Absolute environmental indicators

Relative environmental indicators per FTE