Advancing together

We have been a signatory of the United Nations-backed Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) since 2012. The PRI Initiative is a non-profit organization created in conjunction with the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative and the UN Global Compact. It comprises a network of institutional investors, asset managers and service providers working together to put the Principles for Responsible Investment into practice and to share and promote best practice in responsible investment.

Zurich is a founding member of the UN Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance. The members of the Alliance commit to transitioning their investment portfolios to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, consistent with a maximum temperature rise of 1.5°C above pre-industrial temperatures.

This is an important milestone on Zurich’s journey to becoming a net-zero business and reaffirms its commitment to responsible investment.

Members seek to fulfill the net-zero commitment primarily through advocating for, and engaging in, corporate and industry action, as well as supporting public policies for a low-carbon transition of economic sectors in line with science and associated social considerations.

The net-zero commitment is made in the expectation that governments will follow through on their own commitments to ensure the objectives of the Paris Agreement are met.

Climate Action 100+ is an investor-led initiative to ensure the world’s largest corporate greenhouse gas emitters take necessary action on climate change.

Zurich is one of the 540 investors members, responsible for over $52 trillion in assets under management, that are engaging companies on improving climate change governance, cutting emissions and strengthening climate-related financial disclosures.

Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN) is a non-profit organization dedicated to increasing the scale and effectiveness of impact investing.

Zurich is a member of GIIN’s Investors' Council, which provides a platform for impact investors to connect, share ideas, seek feedback and use GIIN's resources and expertise to measure impact.

Zurich is a founding member of the Operating Principles for Impact Management.

The Impact Principles launched in April 2019 to provide a framework for investors to ensure that impact considerations are purposefully integrated throughout the investment life cycle. The principles bring greater discipline and transparency to the impact investing market, requiring annual disclosure statements and independent verification of signatories' impact management systems and processes. As the number of signatories continues to grow, these asset managers, asset owners, multilateral development banks and development finance institutions have become a collaborative community, working together to shape the future of impact investing.

In 2019 Zurich was the only asset owner elected to the first advisory board of the The Impact Principles.

The Green Bond Principles (GBP) and Social Bond Principles (SBP) are voluntary process guidelines promoting transparency, disclosure and integrity in developing green, social and sustainability bond markets, and have become the leading framework for these instruments. The International Capital Market Association (ICMA) acts as the secretariat for these Principles.

Zurich is a member of the Executive Committee for the Principles, representing investors.

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is a leading global environmental authority that sets the global environmental agenda. It promotes coherent implementation of the environmental dimension of sustainable development within the United Nations system, and also serves as an authoritative advocate for the global environment. 

Zurich contributes to the organization’s effort to build a sustainable financial system, aiming to gather knowledge to promote resilience, identify best practice and explore ways to support a financial system aligned with environmental goals. 

We are proud to be a founding member of the Investment Leaders Group (ILG). Originally launched as a three-year project in 2013, the group aims to help shift the investment process toward responsible, long-term value creation. Part of the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership's Business Action Platform, the ILG draws on academic research taking place at the University of Cambridge and corporate leadership at its member companies. Despite having different investment strategies, these corporate leaders share the common goal of wishing to ‘lead by example’ in creating standards to support the advancement of responsible investment.

Zurich is member of the Emerging Market Private Equity Association (EMPEA), an independent, non-profit organization, whose members aim to achieve investment returns and sustainable growth in emerging markets.

Zurich UK is a signatory to ClimateWise, the global insurance industry’s leadership group that works to address climate change risk. The group uses the insurance industry’s expertise to better understand, communicate and act on climate risks. ClimateWise is supported by the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, which also launched the Investor Leader's Group (ILG).

The Italian Sustainable Investment Forum (Forum per la Finanza Sostenibile or FFS) is a non-profit, multi-stakeholder organization founded in 2001. FFS aims to promote sustainable finance in Italian financial markets. In particular, the FFS promotes the integration of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) factors in policies and processes adopted by investors. FFS is a founding member of Eurosif (the European Sustainable and Responsible Investment Forum), a pan-European network that works to develop sustainability in European financial markets.

Zurich joined FFS in 2015 and actively supports its workshops and initiatives.