26 November 2015 Insurance

Climate protection to be integral to Allianz portfolio

Insurer Allianz has unveiled plans to integrate climate protection into its entire business portfolio.

The announcement comes ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris.

“Our knowledge of risk, financial resilience and long-term investments enable us to offer effective support for climate protection while making the most of long-term opportunities for our customers,” said Oliver Bäte, chief executive officer of Allianz.

The firm said that the four measures will be introduced as part of the plans: transparency across its entire investment portfolio; phasing out coal; insuring climate risks in developing countries; and financing a low-carbon economy.

Allianz has been working with three non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to develop and implement these measures. These are Germanwatch, Transparency International and WWF.

“WWF is pleased to see Allianz announce its move towards greater transparency and its wish to use its investment activities to avoid any adverse effects,” said Matthias Kopp, team leader of the sustainable finance team at WWF.

“Allianz strives to integrate all of the above into its 'mainstream' business, a goal to which WWF has been lending its support since April 2015. Even though this process is far from complete, moving away from coal-based business models that lack transformation potential and improving the transparency of the sustainability elements in portfolios are important, nay essential, first steps.

“The next step will be setting a specific level of ambition for managing the Allianz investment business; for example in line with the transition to a low-emission economy, which will also serve as a yardstick against which to measure success and impact. This challenge is faced by pretty much the entire financial industry. For its part, Allianz has already laid a solid foundation.”

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