Zurich Insurance Group. We are a leading multi-line insurer serving its customers in global and local market with ca. 55,000 employees. We offer a range of property and casualty, and life insurance products and services in more than 215 countries and territories. Zurich’s customers include individuals, small businesses, and mid-sized and large companies, as well as multinational corporations. We were founded in Zurich, Switzerland in 1872. Learn more about us here: https://www.zurich.com/en/about-us
News
Events
Thematic expertise
Integrated Water Resources Management
Zurich is a signatory of the ‘United for disaster resilience’ statement, the insurance industry’s statement in support of disaster risk reduction. Zurich has also made a voluntary commitment to the ‘Insurance industry commitments to build disaster resilience and promote sustainable development’. This includes assessing how our underwriting activities take into account ESG aspects, also relating to the proper and sustainable management of water resources. Specifically, ESG underwriting looks at water-relevant aspects such as dam construction and mining.
Water for other uses
Dam construction
Dams help communities and economies manage water resources for food production, energy generation, flood alleviation and domestic and industrial use. But they can also displace communities, cause adverse environmental impacts and create the inequitable distribution of benefits.
Mining
Mining provides minerals and metals that underpin economic growth and social welfare. If not managed responsibly, mining operations can have adverse impacts on the environment, host communities and countries.
(https://www.zurich.com/en/sustainability/working-with-customers/esg-integration-in-insurance )
Water and climate change
The world is transforming at an unprecedented pace. At Zurich we believe we can have a positive impact in our role as insurer, investor, employer and in society. We have the knowledge, skills and capabilities and spirit to make a difference. Actively tackling climate change as a risk and opportunity is one of the three core elements of our Sustainability Strategy (https://www.zurich.com/en/sustainability).
Floods affect more people globally than any other type of natural hazard and cause some of the largest economic, social and humanitarian losses. There is a growing natural hazards protection gap between the total economic losses and the insured proportion of those losses that highlights this problem needs to be tackled both by traditional risk transfer mechanisms such as insurance, and by leveraging the insurance industry’s knowledge on risk management and risk reduction. By using Zurich’s risk expertise as a global insurer, we can help customers and communities reduce the devastating impacts of floods – even before a flood hits – and build community flood resilience in a more integrated way. This is why we launched the Zurich Flood Resilience Alliance in 2013 and have entered in its second phase in 2018. The Zurich Flood Resilience Alliance, a multi-sector partnership focusing on finding practical ways to help communities strengthen their resilience to floods globally – and save lives was launched in 2013. In the first phase of the program, we have reached over 225,000 direct beneficiaries across our 13 programs in nine countries. In the second five-year phase of the program launched in July 2018, the Alliance aims to increase the investment going into pre-event resilience building by USD 1 billion and commits to scaling up its work in climate action, to help make 2 million people more resilient to flooding, both by the end of 2023. We already know that every USD 1 invested in prevention saves on average USD 5 in future losses. We will do this by rolling out best-practice community programs that demonstrate the value of resilience-building; compiling best practices and success stories; and advocating for more investment in resilience with authorities and public and private funders. We share our knowledge on our own flood resilience portal.
https://www.zurich.com/sustainability/our-role-in-society/flood-resilience
Geographic expertise
Contact Person
Devi Bühler - Devi.buehler@zhaw.ch
Projects
Documents
English
 | Peer Group Analysis: Water Investment Opportunity through Funds Solutions [pdf - 3.07 MB] | |
| Presentation New SWP Members 2020 [pdf - 22.66 MB] | Presentations by - Zurich Insurance, Michael Szönyi - Institute of Natural Resource Science, University of Applied Science Zürich (ZHAW), Devi Bühler - Centre for Development and Environment, University of Bern, Tatenda Lemann - Evodrop, Fabio Hüther - Institute of Environmental and [...] |
| Report SWP Member Survey 2020 [pdf - 565.06 KB] | |
| Swiss Junior Water Prize Winner 2020 Video [external file] | A presentation of the Winner of the Swiss Junior Water Prize 2020, Anna Sidonia Marugg. |
| SWP Action Plan 2020-2021 [pdf - 425.87 KB] | The SWP Action Plan 2020-2021 was approved by the General Assembly on 17 September 2020. |
| SWP Annual Report 2019 [pdf - 1.04 MB] | The SWP Annual Report 2019 was approved by the General Assembly on 17 September 2020. |
| SWP Audit Report 2019 [pdf - 3.90 MB] | The SWP Audit was conducted by Jean Frei Revisions- und Treuhand AG and the report was approved by the General Assembly on 17 September 2020. |
| SWP Budget 2021 [pdf - 93.69 KB] | The SWP Budget 2021 was approved by the General Assembly on 17 September 2020. |
| SWP General Assembly 2019 – Minutes [pdf - 314.50 KB] | The Minutes of the General Assembly 2019 were approved by the General Assembly on 17 September 2020. |
| SWP General Assembly 2020 – Minutes [pdf - 159.61 KB] | |
| SWP Learning Event: The role of finance actors in the water sector [pdf - 3.58 MB] | |
| SWP Youth Newsletter 2020 [pdf - 245.83 KB] | |
| SWP Youth – Presentation SWP GA 2020 [pdf - 1.53 MB] | |
| WWWeek at home 2020 – Presentation “Switzerland: Blessing or Curse for Water in the World?” [pdf - 41.27 MB] | Presentation of the WWWeek at home Session "Switzerland: Blessing or Curse for Water in the World?" |
| WWWeek at home 2020 – SWP Report [pdf - 197.62 KB] | |
| WWWeek at home 2020 – Presentation “Water Data Scarcity – overcoming gaps for decision-making towards climate resilience” [pdf - 1.58 MB] | Presentation of the WWWeek at home Session "Water Data Scarcity - overcoming gaps for decision-making towards climate resilience" |
German
| Argumentarium “BLUE COMMUNITIES SCHWEIZ ZU DEN WASSERINITIATIVEN” [pdf - 606.91 KB] |