Risk protection
Responsible Business within the Group
Our business activities are shaped by an increasingly complex environment and ever new risk potentials. Digitalisation is changing our customers’ expectations while at the same time opening up new ways of reaching them. The impacts of climate change are also challenging us. They are already having a noticeable effect on our business today.
We view economic prosperity, resilience and technological progress as building blocks of a fairer, more sustainable society and act responsibly and with foresight over the long term. As part of the Munich Re Group, ERGO is guided by a shared sustainability strategy. As a responsible corporate Group, Munich Re endeavours to play its part in meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement with its Climate Ambition 2030. Munich Re expresses this intention in the expectation that governments will meet their own pledges, in order to ensure that the goals of the Paris Agreement are achieved.
Along the value chain, we take social, environmental and economic criteria – so called ESG criteria – into account beyond climate change. These include protecting human rights and biodiversity, as well as supporting international conventions on controversial weapons, which we have anchored in our investment and insurance guidelines.
Our contribution to climate action
Munich Re Climate Ambition
- Investments
- (Re) insurance business
- Own operations
In the long term, Munich Re remains committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions across its entire (re)insurance business and investment portfolio to net zero* by 2050, thereby contributing to the achievement of the Paris Agreement’s targets. Munich Re has set out its targets for 2030 and its long-term intentions for 2040 and 2050 on the assumption that governments will honour their own commitments to achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement.
With these targets, Munich Re consistently continues along the path defined in the Climate Ambition 2025 of the Munich Re Group Ambition 2025, which applied up to and including the 2025 financial year and was successfully implemented.
An overview and definition of the targets and intentions of the Munich Re Group Climate Ambition 2030 can be found here. The ERGO Group contributes to the targets of the Munich Re Group Climate Ambition.
* With regard to the definition and scope of net zero, as well as how it can be achieved, we will take into account applicable regulations, industry best practice, offsetting requirements and climate research when setting our next climate ambition(s). Further interim targets and measures required beyond the stated 2030 targets to achieve the long-term goal for 2050 will be set out in the next climate ambition(s).
Mitigate risks. Allocate capital. Shape the future.
Responsible and forward-looking business practices
- ESG-aspects in our Insurance Solutions
- ESG-aspects in our Investments
- ESG-aspects in our Insurance Solutions
- ESG-aspects in our Investments
Insurance Solutions with foresight
Our core business is taking on and diversifying risk. Our business conduct is driven by appropriate risk management and an approach that combines economic success with social responsibility.
In our insurance business, we achieve this in particular through strong customer focus, responsible solutions and the integration of ESG aspects into our products and services. The groupwide approach with regard to the climate is based on three core elements:
- Decarbonisation targets
- provision of risk-transfer solutions that contribute to climate change adaptation and to mitigating the impacts of climate change
- Group-wide risk management
ERGO contributes to the Group wide climate strategy, with the long term aim of reducing GHG emissions associated with its primary insurance business to net zero* by 2050. Our decarbonisation targets focus in particular on specific activities in connection with thermal coal and oil and gas production. Intermediate targets have been set for 2030, together with concrete measures that are specified in the Munich Re Climate Ambition.
We support the adaptation of society and the economy to climate change by offering insurance solutions that help our customers to obtain financial protection against natural catastrophes and extreme weather events. Insurance solutions against natural catastrophe losses in various lines of business – such as homeowners, household contents, motor, and commercial and industrial insurance – contribute to this.
To ensure that ESG aspects are taken into account in the insurance business, ERGO applies the Group wide ESG criteria, processes, tools and underwriting guidelines. Climate and ESG experts, as well as dedicated sustainability teams, support the business units in integrating these aspects into underwriting.
* With regard to the definition and scope of net zero, as well as how it can be achieved, we will take into account applicable regulations, industry best practice, offsetting requirements and climate research when setting our next climate ambition(s). Further interim targets and measures required beyond the stated 2030 targets to achieve the long-term goal for 2050 will be set out in the next climate ambition(s).
Our Investments
As a global investor, we are aware of our responsibility to conduct our activities sustainably and integrate sustainability criteria into our investment policy. The Munich Re Group – and thus also ERGO – aims to steer the GHG emissions of its investment portfolio towards net zero by 2050. To ensure transparency and accountability on our path to net zero, specific climate targets have been defined for the various asset classes by 2030, including decarbonisation targets, climate tackling investments and engagement targets (for details, please refer to Munich Re Climate Ambition).
The measures initiated to achieve these targets are essentially based on the decarbonisation lever of portfolio reallocation. This includes, among other things, the use of CO₂e budgets for specific portfolios and divestments, as well as investments in low carbon assets. At the same time, we restrict or exclude direct investments in listed companies (equities and corporate bonds) that generate material revenues from thermal coal or oil sands, have material annual production of or power generation capacity from thermal coal, or are classified as specialised or integrated types of oil and gas companies. In addition, selected companies – identified through a structured process – are encouraged and supported in developing and implementing their climate ambitions and climate approaches as part of so called engagement dialogues.
The Munich Re Responsible Investment Guideline provides the framework for taking sustainability criteria into account in our investments. It also sets out which direct investments are excluded. These include, among other things, investments in companies that manufacture controversial weapons (such as biological weapons and cluster munitions), as well as trading and related derivatives in food related commodities such as grains/oilseeds or dairy products. To address human rights violations with appropriate measures, we also exclude states and companies with significant breaches from our direct investments. To limit negative impacts on areas of protected biodiversity, we are guided by the lists of World Heritage properties relating to natural sites and mixed natural and cultural properties maintained under the UNESCO World Heritage Convention. Special review processes apply to investments in affected areas.
For the systematic selection of investments based on sustainability criteria, we rely, among other things, on data from leading providers of sustainability analyses and ratings. The majority of the Group’s investments are managed by the Group’s own asset manager MEAG.
Listen. Understand. Improve.
Customer dialogue and customer satisfaction at ERGO
ERGO’s success largely depends on maintaining a close and trusting relationship with our customers. That is why we aim to understand their needs and develop appropriate solutions together in dialogue – across all channels and along the entire customer relationship.
ERGO is driving its own transformation into a digitally leading insurer in Germany and its international core markets. Along the entire value chain – from products and processes through to services – digital technologies are deployed in a targeted way. These include, among others, key technologies such as artificial intelligence, voice robotics, virtual reality and process mining. In addition, ERGO makes use of strategic partnerships with global technology companies as well as start ups and scale ups. The aim is to make processes faster and more efficient and to offer digital solutions that facilitate access to insurance products, simplify communication and enable faster feedback.
Understanding climate risks, strengthening preparedness.
