Zurich and Swiss Re Leaning Even Greener, While Gen Zers Covet Climate Jobs

September 9, 2021 by

Zurich is deepening emissions cuts and adding green options for customers.

Zurich Insurance Group announced this week it is “taking global measures” to accelerate cuts in carbon emissions from its operations in response to climate change.

Measures include new air travel guidance, a switch to cleaner vehicles and more commitments to reduce Zurich’s environmental footprint.

Zurich said it also plans to expand its products and services to help customers transition to a net-zero emissions future, including a carbon-neutral equity fund, and an expansion of its commitment to underwrite renewable energy.

“The climate crisis calls for urgent action and small steps taken by each of us – individuals, organizations and businesses – will add up to a giant leap over time,” Mario Greco, group CEO, said in a statement. “Our new measures aim to further reduce our own carbon footprint and, by having a direct impact on how we work, inspire employees, suppliers, customers and others to take action of their own.”

Zurich aims to be a net-zero emissions business by 2050. Its operations have reportedly been carbon neutral since 2014, but plans to reduce its remaining greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2025 and by 70% by 2029.

Some details on the measures being taken include:

  • Zurich aims to reduce air travel-related emissions as of 2022 by 70% compared with their pre-pandemic level.
  • Communication with customers, which accounts for 80% of the group’s paper consumption, is targeted to become fully digital by 2025.
  • New company vehicles will be electric or hybrid, with the goal to eliminate internal combustion engine-only vehicles from the fleet by 2025.
  • The group is aiming to implement a sustainable buildings program in an additional 50 offices by the end of 2022. A new energy efficiency ambition for real estate will be set once the target to switch to 100% renewable power across the Group is reached next year.

RMS on Climate Metrics

“Taking the Guesswork out of Climate Change Metrics” is the title of a new blog from modeler RMS.

The blog out Wednesday, authored by Ben Brooks, vice president of RMS consulting services, notes that regulators and stakeholders are increasingly asking questions about the impacts of climate change in terms of increased losses on their portfolios (the U.K. Prudential Regulation Authority, Climate Biennial Exploratory Scenario, Task Force for Climate-Related Financial Disclosures) and the insurance community is “having to rapidly adapt and respond to requests for climate change metrics” that are not always straightforward to produce.

One key term is the Representative Concentration Pathway. RCP’s, taken from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 5th assessment report in 2014, map out how global mean surface temperatures will increase relative to preindustrial levels through to 2100 based on different climate futures.

“The focus is on four scenarios – RCP2.6, RCP4.5, RCP6.0, RCP8.5 – that reflect the globe’s response to climate change,” Brooks writes. “They range from RCP2.6 – a very stringent pathway with all carbon dioxide emissions reaching zero by 2100, to RCP8.5, a worst-case outcome where emissions continue to rise.”

Brooks continued in his blog to give a highly detailed report on the importance of these and other such metrics.

Swiss Re’s Climeworks

Swiss start-up Climeworks AG, which specializes in capturing carbon dioxide from the air, partnered with Icelandic carbon storage firm Carbfix to develop a plant that removes up to 4,000 tons of CO2 per year – the equivalent of the annual emissions from roughly 790 cars.

The company began operating the world’s largest plant that sucks carbon dioxide directly from the air and deposits it underground this week, Reuters reported in an Insurance Journal article on Wednesday.

The Orca plant (Orca is an Icelandic word for energy) consists of eight large containers that resemble those used in the shipping industry, which employ filters and fans to extract CO2.

The isolated carbon is mixed with water and pumped underground, where it slowly turns into rock, all driven by technologies powered with renewable energy sourced from a nearby geothermal power plant, according to the Reuters article.

“Direct air capture is still a fledgling and costly technology, but developers hope to drive down prices by scaling up as more companies and consumers look to reduce their carbon footprint,” the article states. “There are currently 15 direct air capture plants operating worldwide, capturing more than 9,000 tonnes of CO2 per year, according to the IEA.”

Gen Z and Climate

Surveys show young people are going beyond merely incorporating new climate-conscious behaviors into their day-to-day lives, while college administrators have reported a rise in the numbers of students pursuing environmental-related degrees and careers, according to an article out this week in the Guardian.

The article also interviews members of Gen Z, people under age 25, “who are responding to the planet’s rapidly changing climate by committing their lives to finding a solution.”

“Once you learn how damaged the world’s ecosystems are, it’s not really something you can unsee,” Rachel Larrivee, 23, a sustainability consultant based in Boston, told the publication. “To me, there’s no point in pursuing a career – or life for that matter – in any other area.”

The University of Southern California in Los Angeles saw significant interest in its Sustainability Across the Curriculum program launched this year to teach undergraduates how their majors intersect with sustainability and the environment, while New York University’s environmental studies program reported similar growth, according to the article.

A projection from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows employment opportunities for environmental scientists and related specialists will grow 8% in the next 10 years.

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