Climate Change
A key topic at Swiss ReRead more
The Greenhouse Neutral Programme
Swiss Re has been fully greenhouse neutral since 2003. We have substantially reduced our CO2 emissions by switching to renewable energy at many of our locations and have been compensating all the remaining emissions.
In 2003, we started our ambitious Greenhouse Neutral Programme. It combined two commitments: to reduce our per-capita CO2 emissions by 15% until 2013 and to fully compensate the remaining emissions. To our knowledge, we were the first large financial services provider to have made such a pledge.
To reduce our emissions, we put a strong focus on switching to renewable energy at many of our largest locations, while continuing to optimise energy efficiency. We met our original 15% reduction goal during 2006 and immediately decided to double it to 30%. At the end of 2009, the total reduction in our per-capita CO2 emissions since 2003 was 48.4% – however this figure is likely to have been distorted by the strong decrease in business travel due to the difficult economic conditions in the first half of the year.
We compensated our remaining emissions for the whole period between 2003 and 2008 by buying and retiring voluntary emission reduction certificates (VERs) for 290 000 tonnes of CO2. For 2009, we have retired VERs for a further 60 000 tonnes of CO2.
The calculation of our emissions is conducted in line with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol and is verified by PricewaterhouseCoopers. We disclose the figures both in our Annual Report and the Corporate Responsibility Report.
Corporate responsibility
We have a long-standing commitment to corporate responsibility and strive to implement this across our business. Our performance has received high ratings from independent third-party organisations. Read the whole story
Switzerland Charity of the Year...
We are proud to announce that the “Stiftung Brunegg” was chosen as Swiss Re’s Switzerland Charity of the Year 2012. Read the whole storyFurther stories
- Providing Safe Water and Sanitation to Communities in Bangalore and Hyderabad, India
- Swiss Re and the ICRC: A knowledge-sharing partnership
- Providing clean water in Central Mindanao of the Philippines
- Making schools more resistant to earthquakes in rural Peru
- 2010 Corporate Responsibility Report
- More stories
Back to corporate responsibility
Sustainable Solutions
Development of CO2 emissions
2010 Corporate Responsibility Report
The report highlights how we use our risk expertise to create sustainable value for our stakeholders and society as a whole.Download the report (22MB)
