Driving real change: our sustainability journey in action

There has been a notable shift in the business landscape towards a stronger and more tangible focus on achieving sustainability goals. In particular, the Australian Government has set the country a target of net zero carbon emissions by 2050. Legislation to mandate climate disclosure reporting in Australia is expected to come through on 1 January 2025. With this new reporting requirement and with both businesses and the government aiming to reduce carbon emissions, we expect that the pace of change will increase. 

In late 2023, Allianz Group announced its net zero transition plan. It outlines the company's goal to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 in its investment and Property & Casualty (P&C) underwriting portfolios. The plan includes intermediate targets to reduce emissions across different parts of the business by 2030. 

At Allianz Australia, we have made good progress to date. We’ve reduced our operations emissions by more than 70% per employee since 2019. In November 2023, we hosted a Sustainability Festival to engage and motivate employees with a second festival planned later this year. In addition to this, all employees have a sustainability KPI in their performance scorecards, linked to divisional action plans.

We have several key activities to help drive carbon reduction, including transitioning our vehicle fleet to Electric Vehicles by 2030. In 2023, we achieved 100% renewable energy, including some use of renewable energy certificates, for our buildings. We have also been moving into more energy efficient buildings over the past few years, for example, our Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide offices. 

But we know there’s more to be done. We’re focused on reducing emissions across the enterprise, not only in our operations but in our investments, claims and underwriting as well. 

At Allianz, we aim to look at both sides of the equation when deciding who we underwrite and invest in. We look for opportunities in renewable and low emissions intensive sectors, while limiting our involvement in high emitting industries. We’ve been restricting our underwriting and investments in coal since 2015, and oil and gas since 2023.

In insurance, we see the impacts of climate change on our customers. We’re committed to finding ways to help our customers and partners reduce carbon emissions and better protect themselves against climate change.

One example is GreenSpecs. Launched in 2023 by Allianz Australia in partnership with the Green Building Council of Australia, the tool aims to help Australians make their homes more sustainable. This includes tips to make homes more efficient and resilient to climate change. The initiative has been a success, with over 33,000 visits to the tool since launch.

We have an exclusive insurance partnership with Disaster Relief Australia to host Big Maps in communities. The Big Maps initiative helps communities to scenario plan for disasters and take actions to prepare and build community resilience.

In the social sustainability space, we have worked closely with some of our financial institution partners to better support customers experiencing family violence. We’re one of the first insurers to publish research around risks of family violence and insurance. We’ve also shared our findings from our research with regulators and the Australian Financial Complaints Authority.

Sustainability and the transition towards lower carbon emissions is important to our stakeholders, employees and our partners and suppliers. 

Our employees tell us this is an important topic to them personally and increasingly employees are attracted to companies with a strong purpose and sustainability credentials. 

We view sustainability as an opportunity to build resilience and support new and emerging business and markets. We understand the need to work with our partners and suppliers to align our sustainability strategies. We are looking at how we can support them with their sustainability goals and targets. 

Our large corporate customers and suppliers will form part of our climate disclosure reporting in the future. By working with them to find ways to reduce their emissions, we will be helping to reduce our overall emissions and the better we do, the better our partners do. It’s a win-win situation.

Our customers are becoming more aware of the impact their choices have on the environment. Products and services that are more sustainable and have a lower carbon footprint will likely become more sought after in the near future. We are looking to partner with businesses that share similar sustainability values. We believe this will help to attract and retain customers and build stronger partnership opportunities.

Sustainability is an ongoing journey. What gets measured gets improved. We’re developing sustainability reporting and dashboards to help measure our emissions, progress toward our targets and social impact. 

We’ll continue to work towards our long-term transition plan for net-zero emissions in Australia.

As we look to the future, we’re also excited about our upcoming social initiatives. Our Girls in Sport program is part of our Move Now campaign, which addresses mental and physical health. The program supports girls to stay in sport longer.

We will continue to work to support community resilience, with plans for Big Maps sessions to be held in different regions across the country.

We’re committed to sustainability and working to help our customers and partners transition towards Net Zero and better protect themselves against climate change. To learn more about sustainability at Allianz or to share in our journey towards a more sustainable future, visit Allianz Sustainability.