Allianz Achieves Major Sustainability Milestones in 2024

Allianz showed outstanding advances on its climate strategy in 2024 financial year, entrenching it as a frontrunner on sustainability and business resilience. Its transparency and accountability were further embedded through the issuing of the world's first totally CSRD-conformant Annual Report, verified by a rational audit. The milestone highlights Allianz's commitment to clear, comparable, and trustworthy sustainability reporting, with a new benchmark for the industry.

Günther Thallinger, Allianz SE's Member of the Board of Management, pointed out the complexity of the context that the company faces, stressing areas of challenge that include loss of value to inflation, weak economic growth, and differences in each industry and nation's commitment to sustainability. Hurdles aside, however, Thallinger reconfirmed the unshaken dedication of Allianz to its sustainability vision. "We stand firm on our perspectives and our ambitions," he declared. We have achieved tangible progress on our mid-term 2030 targets, helped drive Allianz's P&C growth and investment performance, engaged with communities, and served as a uniting force, uniting various stakeholders to discuss how to convert today's challenges into opportunities."

One of the most important areas where Allianz made significant strides was in its environmental footprint, specifically in cutting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The firm saw major emission decreases in its insurance portfolios, investments, and operations, further cementing its resiliency and long-term value creation potential. Allianz's motor retail insurance emissions have fallen by 6.8% since 2022, and commercial insurance portfolio emissions dropped by 11.7% during the same timeframe. The firm also took significant leaps forward in its investment emissions that it controls, dropping 50.7% since 2019. Furthermore, operational emissions per staff member decreased by an impressive 61.5% from 2019, a reflection of Allianz's dedication to sustainability across all aspects of its operations.

These green improvements track well with Allianz's overarching objectives of enabling customer sustainability transitions. The organization intensified its investments in sustainable solutions in no small measure, thus spearheading its customers' transitions to more sustainable operations. Allianz's sustainable investments rose by €4.5 billion, reaching a total of €171.9 billion. In addition, Property & Casualty (P&C) sustainable solutions revenue jumped to €4.9 billion, a remarkable €1.9 billion increase from the previous year. One groundbreaking innovation among Allianz's offerings is Allianz Trade's Surety Green2Green, a program that aims to finance low-carbon projects by offering surety bonds and reinvesting premiums in green bonds. This project illustrates Allianz's visionary strategy for embedding sustainability in its financial products and services.

Apart from its green credentials, Allianz continues to focus on the health and wellbeing of its employees and customers. The company boosted the average learning hours per employee to 60.1, up by 10.1 hours compared to the prior year. This emphasis on staff development is an example of Allianz's investment in creating a skilled and motivated workforce. The company also donated €33.3 million to charitable and community activities, including disaster relief and non-profit activities. These activities demonstrate Allianz's integrated sustainability strategy, addressing not just environmental footprint but social responsibility as well.

Allianz SE's Chief Sustainability Officer, Emilia Macarie, recognized the setbacks of 2024, mentioning that intense natural disasters had turned it into the third costliest year ever for insurers worldwide. Yet she also pointed out that less than 50% of these losses were insured, pointing out the wider effects of such events beyond the insurance sector. Macarie underscored that these difficulties are being compounded by increasing transition risks as governments and industries move towards more sustainable approaches. In spite of this challenge, Allianz continued to pursue its sustainability goals, embedding them into its business practices and continuing to show resilience. "We have kept to our sustainability commitments, brought them into our business, and shown resilience, as evidenced in our performance," Macarie stated. "In the future, we continue to be committed to executing on our strategy, driving genuine progress, and safeguarding and building our customers' assets through innovation and adaptive steps."

As Allianz moves forward, the company continues to prioritize growing its sustainable offerings, increasing its resilience, and continuing to generate value for its stakeholders. With clear goals established for 2030 and beyond, Allianz is committed to driving progress toward a more sustainable and resilient future for everyone.