Memberships and ESG Ratings

By being signatories and members of a wide range of global sustainability initiatives and principles, we have the possibility to

  • Incorporate best practice sustainable development principles into our activities, products, services and investments;
  • Work with and learn from our peers through open dialogue and knowledge sharing;
  • Collaborate to find solutions that address local and global challenges relevant to our industry and beyond;
  • Improve transparency in our own operations and across the value chain.

Science-based Targets Initiative (SBTi)

Our interim goals for reducing CO2 in our investments and operational ecology by 2030 have been successfully validated by the renowned organization Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) since December 2023. SBTi is a collaboration of environmental and climate protection organizations, including CDP (formerly Carbon Disclosure Project), United Nations Global Compact, World Resource Institute (WRI), and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). The initiative defines and promotes science-based objectives, independently verifying goals set by companies. The science-based 1.5°C climate targets are based on a simple principle: they focus on the amount of emissions that must be reduced to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement – limiting the global temperature increase to 1.5°C.

For our investment portfolio, we have set interim targets for 2030 in four areas, according to the SBTi framework, which represent a total of 23% of our assets under management. We focus on project financing and corporate loans for electricity generation, other long-term corporate loans, as well as listed stocks and corporate bonds. Through our engagement activities and decarbonization pathway, we will implement our Science-Based Targets by 2030.

UNIQA has also set SBTi interim goals for our own operations. We commit to reducing our direct Scope 1 and indirect Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 42% by 2030 compared to the base year 2021.

All details about our interim targets for 2030 validated by SBTi can be found here.

Green Finance Alliance

In May 2022, UNIQA joined the Austrian Green Finance Alliance as one of nine founding members. This accession comprehensively complements our existing memberships and their objectives in the area of sustainability.

The Green Finance Alliance was launched by the Federal Ministry for Climate Protection, Environment, Mobility, Innovation and Technology (BMK). As one of the world's first government initiatives for a voluntary commitment of financial companies to the 1.5 degree target of the Paris Climate Agreement, it addresses the fulfilment of concrete criteria for our core business. It uses science-based, binding criteria for the companies' investment and insurance business. The catalogue of criteria includes targets for the phase-out of fossil fuels (coal and oil by 2030, natural gas by 2035), the expansion of green business activities and transparent annual climate reporting.

For Green Finance Alliance members, in addition to the obligation to align the core business with the Paris climate goals, a fundamentally climate-friendly behaviour of the company is also envisaged (operational ecology). This includes, for example, a climate-friendly travel policy, the use of green electricity and sustainable procurement. 

Green Finance Alliance

Executive Summary Green Finance Alliance

UN Global Compact

In 2020 UNIQA became a signatory to the UN Global Compact (UNGC) and therefore undertakes to consistently comply with the ten principles of the UNGC. The core areas covered by the UNGC are human rights, labour, environmental protection and anti-corruption efforts. The ten principles of the UNGC have additionally been incorporated into the Code of Conduct applicable throughout the Group, which reflects our corporate culture and governs our responsibilities to our customers, business partners and employees.

 

Sustainable Development Goals

UNIQA also supports the Agenda 2030 for sustainable development passed by the United Nations in September 2015. At the core of this initiative are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), , which are subdivided into 169 targets.Four SDGs are particularly relevant for UNIQA: SDG 3 Good health and well-being), SDG 4 (Quality education), SDG 5 (Gender equality) and SDG 13 (Climate action).

UN Principles for Responsible Investments

In 2020 UNIQA signed on to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investments (PRI), which aim to integrate ESG principles into investment decisions and management. Our guidelines for responsible investments have helped us focus more strongly on sustainability factors in our investing activities. It has become clear that sustainable investments experienced lower fluctuations in value that were easier to cope with. Our prudent economic principles for action also enabled us to successfully mitigate the effects of continued low interest rates.

Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance

In October 2021 UNIQA joined the Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance (NZAOA) . The Alliance is an international group of institutional investors delivering on a bold commitment to transition our investment portfolios to net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050. Representing approx. $10 trillion assets under management, the United Nations-convened Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance shows united investor action to align portfolios with a 1.5°C scenario, addressing Article 2.1c of the Paris Agreement.

Commitment Statement

By joining the Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance UNIQA Insurance Group AG is committed to transitioning its investment portfolio to net-zero GHG emissions by 2050. Over the past year, UNIQA has measured the climate impact of its investments specifically related to our corporate investee’s emissions and climate strategies. As part of our contribution to reaching the goals set by the Paris Agreement, we are committed to the following targets for our on-balance sheet direct investments:

  1. Reduce our carbon emission intensity (Scope 1&2 tCO2e per million € revenue) for our listed equity and corporate bond investments by 15% by 2025 (base year 2021).
  2. Reduce our carbon emission intensity (Scope 1&2 kgCO2e per m2) for our real estate portfolio by 15% by 2025 (base year 2021).
  3. We plan to increase our financing of transition targets by increasing our sustainable investments (Renewable and Social Infrastructure Investments, Green, Social and Sustainability bonds and Green Funds) to € 2 billion by 2025.
  4. To help us reach these targets, UNIQA will take an active ownership approach and engage with investees focusing first on those accounting for 65% of our direct equity and corporate bond financed emissions. This will be done through direct engagement or through collaboration with Climate Action 100+. 

Climate Action 100+ 

In late 2022, UNIQA joined the Climate Action 100+ initiative, the world's largest investor initiative on climate change. Thereby, UNIQA joins more than 700 global investors managing more than $68 trillion in assets under the initiative. The Climate Action 100+ commitment focuses on 166 of the world's highest-emitting companies that are critical to climate neutrality. The initiative seeks to achieve three goals for the companies it works with:

  • Implement strong corporate governance that clearly expresses board accountability and oversight of climate change risks.
  • Implement actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions throughout the value chain that are consistent with the goal of the Paris Agreement.
  • Improve corporate disclosure in line with the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and the sector-specific Global Investor Coalition on Climate Change (GIC).

UN Principles for Sustainable Insurance

UNIQA has been a signatory of the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) Principles for Sustainable Insurance (PSI)  since 2020. The initiative serves a global framework for the insurance industry to address environmental, social and governance risks and opportunities and intends to better manage opportunities to provide quality and reliable risk protection.

Sustainability Ratings

In addition to fulfilling our extensive reporting obligations, we make targeted use of external sustainability ratings to ensure transparency and promote trust among all our stakeholders - customers, employees and investors. The rating results flow into the planning of our sustainability measures year after year and are important points of orientation on our way to an emission-free and sustainable future for UNIQA.

ISS ESG 

In 2020, UNIQA participated for the first time in the annual ESG sustainability rating of the agency ISS - Institutional Shareholder Services. This rating takes into account not only environmental factors, but also social and governance issues. In 2020, UNIQA was given a rating of C-, which is just below the threshold for the "Prime" segment from C upwards. Even with the C- rating, UNIQA is among the best 20 per cent of all rated insurance companies. In 2021, we succeeded in maintaining our C- rating.

MSCI ESG

MSCI ESG Research provides MSCI ESG ratings for global listed and some private companies on a scale from AAA (leading) to CCC (lagging), depending on exposure to industry-specific ESG risks and ability to manage those risks relative to peers. In 2021, we received a BBB rating.

Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP)

The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) is an international non-profit organisation that analyses and evaluates the climate-related positioning of companies and their management of climate risks and opportunities according to an established and recognised methodology. The coveted CDP rating provides a framework for countries, organisations and companies to orient themselves when planning ESG initiatives. UNIQA underwent a comprehensive assessment for the first time in 2020 and achieved a B- rating. In 2021, we were able to maintain the B-rating result.

Transarent reporting

We base our sustainability reporting on both mandatory and voluntary international standards and guidelines. Our annual Sustainability Report provides a comprehensive overview of our commitment to and progress on our key sustainability issues.

Sustainability Report 2022

The Sustainability Report 2022 covers the reporting period from 01 January 2022 to 31 December 2022 and was published on 13 April 2023. It was prepared in accordance with the Stadards of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). 

Consolidated Non-Financial Report 2022

The Consolidated Non-Financial Report 2022 was prepared in accordance with the Austrian Sustainability and Diversity Improvement Act (NaDiVeG) (EU Directive 2014/95/EU), covers the reporting period from 01 January 2022 to 31 December 2022 and was published as such in the Annual Report 2022

Data and verification

To enhance the quality of our sustainability reporting, both our Sustainability Report and our Non-Financial Report have been audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers GmbH Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft (PwC) since the 2019 reporting year.


You can find our current reports here.