At least one of the eight responsible investment approaches as defined in the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) applies to around 90% of the total assets managed by Swiss Life.
Swiss Life is an asset manager for its own insurance companies as well as for third-party clients such as pension funds, other insurance companies and private investors. As a responsible investor, Swiss Life can make a relevant contribution to the positive development of society and the environment. It does this by reducing risks to society and the environment, exploiting corresponding opportunities, and offering its customers appropriate investment products and solutions. The long-term protection of customer funds and the optimal allocation of risk capital are the main objectives. Invested assets must be secure, profitable, and liquid overall.
Due to the long-term nature of its liabilities, Swiss Life invests predominantly in fixed-income securities such as government and corporate bonds as well as in real estate, equities and infrastructure. Its investment decisions have always been informed by a long-term assessment of risks and returns.
Securities
Swiss Life supports the objectives of the Paris Agreement and, for insurance business investments, has a strategy for exiting from the carbon-intensive coal sector. In particular, Swiss Life refrains from investing in bonds issued by companies which derive more than 10% of their revenue from the mining, extraction or sale of coal for power stations. A corresponding threshold also applies to infrastructure investments: Swiss Life does not invest in projects or companies in which more than 10% of the company or project valuation is attributable to contributions from transactions involving coal for power stations.
Real Estate Management
As a major real estate owner, Swiss Life can make an important contribution to reducing carbon emissions in its own portfolio. In recent years, Swiss Life has focused on gradually and systematically integrating ESG criteria into real estate portfolio management and asset management. Swiss Life has set itself the target of reducing the carbon intensity of its directly held PAM real estate portfolio by 20% by 2030 compared to 2019. Based on current analyses of planned capital expenditure, a reduction of approximately 35% can be expected by 2030. The analyses are based on the CRREM status updated in 2023. The setting of the carbon intensity reduction target for Swiss Life’sdirectly held PAM real estate portfolio is based on the CRREM status at the time.
Responsible Investment Report
In our Responsible Investment Report we summarise how we understand ESG and how we integrate it into our investments.
Principles for Responsible Investment
How we describe the different aspects of this approach to show its suitability for market standards, regulation and its consistency across the organisation.
