Note
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Our guiding principles
Acting in a responsible manner while at the same time creating added value for the Group and for society is Munich Re’s guiding principle. We implement this maxim throughout the Group through our corporate responsibility strategy, which we have geared to the shared-value approach.
What we stand for
As a primary insurer and reinsurer, the professional management of risks is part of our day-to-day business. Not only our clients but also society benefit from our broad knowledge of risks, our experience on all global markets, and the use of the latest insurance techniques to calculate risks. We apply our expertise and practical solutions in order to reduce risks and make it easier for people to start again following major losses. In this way, we create social and economic added value.
What we aim to achieve
We operate in an extremely dynamic global environment in which not only natural catastrophes but also – increasingly – complex new risks can lead to high losses. However, many of these risks cannot yet be calculated and are therefore not insurable. They affect people in their daily lives but also hit entire economies with full force – often in emerging and developing countries that have a low level of resilience. We therefore believe we have a responsibility to identify previously unknown risks early on and calculate their extent in detail. From this we develop insurance solutions that extend the limits of insurability and so create sustainable value for everyone. For example, following disasters, economies recover more quickly in countries with a higher insurance density.
We set the following priorities
We have further developed our Group-wide corporate
responsibility strategy and geared it to the shared-value approach.
This means that, as part of our business activity, we want to
combine economic and social progress in order to meet major global
challenges. According to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development, which was adopted in 2015 by all the member states of
the United Nations, such global challenges can only be solved by
working together. In order to achieve this,
the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
were developed which take account of the economic, social and
ecological dimensions of sustainability. We let ourselves be guided
by these SDGs when developing our new strategy. We thus identified
for our Group the following three challenges, which are of
particular importance for us as a corporate entity, for our clients
and for society at large:
- mitigating the effects of climate change,
- improving access to healthcare and
- enhancing risk awareness.
With these topics and the fields of action we have identified as material, we are contributing to the achievement of the following six SDGs in particular:
Source of Pictograms: UN, License: CC BY-SA 3.0
We have the relevant skills, resources and the necessary risk expertise to develop new, increasingly digital solutions and exploit business opportunities. Working closely with recognised partners, we generate added value by bringing in not only financial resources but, in particular, our know-how. To measure the impact of our actions, we have defined appropriate performance criteria for the three dimensions of business, society and employees.
How we go about this
In the area of corporate responsibility, we focus on four fields
of action:
-
Corporate responsibility in business: We proactively consider environmental, social and governance (ESG) aspects in our insurance business and investment management.
-
Environmental management: We have built up a Group-wide environmental management system and our operations have been carbon-neutral since 2015.
-
Social impact projects: With our social commitment, we play our part as a responsible Group and place the emphasis on projects that are close to our core business.
-
Reporting and communication: We regularly and transparently report on our activities and successes. We are also in continuous dialogue with our stakeholders, in order to better understand their requirements and needs.
Our voluntary commitments such as the ten principles of the UN
Global Compact, the Principles for Responsible Investment and the
Principles for Sustainable Insurance form the basis of our actions
here.
The following diagram presents our Group-wide shared-value approach
GRI Content Index: G4-23; G4-56; G4 DMA Indirect Economic Impacts; G4 DMA Category Environmenal; G4 DMA Customer Health and Safety
