Zurich Insurance Group

The financial institution has a publicly available policy statement requiring suppliers to respect ILO core labour rights and assigns decision-making and oversight for its sustainability strategy to its highest governance body. Moreover, performance criteria for senior executive remuneration are linked to specific sustainability targets, while implementation responsibility for the sustainability strategy is delegated to various functions, teams, or committees. Additionally, the financial institution discloses a stewardship policy that supports environmental transitions and social best practices aligned with its sustainability strategy. The policy encompasses client and stakeholder engagement, advocacy, and partnerships.

The financial institution also discloses a commitment to respect human rights through a publicly available policy statement. Moreover, it discloses actions taken to align lobbying and public policy with its sustainability strategy and does not provide products, services, or capital neither to new fossil fuel projects nor to clients and investees undertaking such projects. The institution identifies key sectors, clients, and investees for climate engagement and provides examples of how its offerings support societal climate adaptation and resilience. Finally, the financial institution monitors emissions from its associated financing activities (Scope 3 category 15).

The financial institution has the opportunity to disclose its methodology for determining a living wage in its operational regions. While it identifies material sustainability impacts across its value chain, further detail on the objective criteria and evidence used for prioritisation is required. Furthermore, it is recommended that third-party assurance or verification of target reporting be disclosed. While the financial institution provides a partial list of trade associations, it does not represent all of its memberships.

The financial institution has a strategy to phase out products and services related to fossil fuel projects lacking alignment with a 1.5°C trajectory, though not all fossil fuels are covered. Time-bound and measurable targets for climate solutions exist, but the share for climate mitigation solutions could be specified. While scope 1-2 emissions are reported as a total sum, separate values for each category should comply with international standards.

Other recommendations include disclosing the breakdown of clients by income group and processes to avoid divestment from low-income countries due to unintended consequences of sustainability strategies. Moreover the entity should disclose a risk assessment process which includes risks related to ILO fundamental rights, with a mitigation process for identified risks. Finally, the institution should identify social risks associated with its provision of products, services and capital in relation to the net zero transition, as well as provide an example of actions taken regarding salient human rights issues from assessments in the past three years.

This scorecard refers to information in English which was publicly available by July 15 2024. AuM and Total assets are stated in USD for comparability and have been calculated based on reported local currency values multiplied by applicable IMF currency converter values.