The carrier is in its fourth year of using this evaluation tool that reflects “our recognition of global fundamental rights, of human suffering and our commitment to limiting unwanted negative impacts of our business transactions.” The number of referrals has risen from less than 80 in 2009 to 170 in 2012.

Swiss Re's Group CEO Michel Liès says this is the first Corporate Responsibility report it has issued incorporating the Principals for Sustainable Insurance, which it helped develop in cooperation with the United Nations Environment Program Finance Initiative. The initiative provides a framework for the insurance industry to address both risks and opportunities springing from environmental, social and governance issues.

The report discusses in more detail the challenges “inherent in implementing sustainability in our business” because “deriving concrete measures from general sustainability principals is not always straight forward.”

Covering the issues of global warming, Swiss Re says it has cut CO₂ emissions per employee by close to 55.6 percent since 2003. The company says it also increased involvement in improving Sub-Saharan food security through implementing index insurance solutions offering rural communities protection against the consequences of adverse weather.