SCOR pledges to actively fight climate change alongside large French corporations
November 26, 2015
39 major French companies take concrete action to combat climate change
Paris, November 26, 2015 – In the lead-up to the Paris climate summit (COP 21), 39 major French companies, employing a total of 4.4 million people worldwide and generating sales of 1,200 billion euros, have made a firm commitment to combat climate change.
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By signing this climate pledge, they want to contribute to making COP 21 a success and to limiting the warming of the Earth to 2°C. They emphasize their driving role and leadership in the fight for a more sustainable world.
Active since many years, these companies are taking concrete steps to reduce their carbon footprint through:
- The use of active and passive energy efficiency solutions,
- The use of renewable energy, notably hydro, wind or solar energy,
- The systematic reduction of greenhouse gas emissions throughout the life cycle of their products,
- The development of new low-carbon materials and solutions,
- The reduction of food waste and packaging,
- The adoption of long-term investment strategies actively promoting the energy transition.
From 2016 to 2020, the 39 companies plan to invest at least 45 billion euros in industrial projects and R&D devoted to renewable energy, energy efficiency and other low carbon technologies. Over the same period, they also intend to provide bank and bond financing of at least 80 billion euros for projects contributing to the fight against climate change.
In addition, they foresee low carbon investments of 15 billion euros in new nuclear capacities and investments of 30 billion euros in natural gas as energy transition solution, planned over the next five years.
SCOR's Commitments
SCOR is the fifth largest reinsurer in the world, with leading positions on its principal markets. Offering its services to 4,000 clients in more than 160 countries throughout the world, SCOR is a global and diversified Tier 1 reinsurance group, operating in the Life and P&C reinsurance fields. The Group’s premium income should exceed EUR 13 billion in 2015, and its assets, which are actively managed by SCOR Global Investments, are expected to top EUR 17 billion. SCOR provides its clients with innovative, value-added solutions and has an underwriting policy based on profitability, thanks to efficient risk management and a prudent investment strategy. The management and transfer of risks are at the heart of SCOR’s expertise, particularly in the field of climate events, thereby helping to improve the resilience of our contemporary societies.
A member of the United Nations Global Compact since 2003, and a signatory of the Geneva Association’s Kyoto Statement since 2009, SCOR has been a founding member of the Principles for Sustainable Insurance (PSI) since 2012. These declarations form the framework of the SCOR group’s social and environmental responsibility policy, while contributing to the excellence of its risk management system. SCOR is also proactively promoting additional initiatives in several areas of its activity, in terms of both mitigating and adapting to climate change. SCOR is committed to further embedding these initiatives in our activities by 2020.
Focal point 1: Controlling and reducing the carbon footprint of our operations
Our efforts to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions will be strengthened through a reduction in the carbon intensity of our offices of 15% per employee between now and 2020. This will be achieved by reinforcing the energy efficiency of our offices, while expanding the share of renewable energy in SCOR’s energy mix. Simultaneously, although 40% of the SCOR group’s employees already work in offices equipped with a certified environmental management system (ISO, EMAS and HQE) as at the end of 2015, the objective is to continue to roll out such systems across all sites where SCOR has the necessary powers to put them into place.
Focal point 2: Investments and asset management
Over the past 5 years, in line with a strategy of actively renovating our real estate assets, environmental and energy efficiency targets have been set for a total surface area of 120,000 m2. Over the same period, SCOR has invested EUR 930 million in low-carbon projects, including one of the very first large positive energy office buildings, and has set itself the goal of investing more than EUR 500 million in the field of corporate real estate and infrastructure by 2020, while integrating carbon considerations into the other asset classes under its management. SCOR is also involved in strategies for adapting to climate change, creating, distributing and investing in insurance-linked securities in the form of cat bonds. At the end of 2015, SCOR holds commitments of EUR 180 million in such funds.
Focal point 3: Support for research, cooperation and raising awareness
SCOR was one of the very first supporters of OASIS, a British non-profit organisation developing a free, open source platform for the modelling of climate events. This collaboration will be enhanced by our membership of Climate KIC, the largest public-private partnership in the field of innovation designed to combat climate change. This support for research is also a core element of the activities of the SCOR Corporate Foundation for Science, which organised a scientific climate seminar in June 2015 combining a range of disciplines (climate, economy, actuarial). Reinsurance is an important element of the strategic adaptation to climate change, requiring tools that enable it to forge its own vision of risk by integrating the most recent scientific developments in climate hazard knowledge.
French Business Climate Pledge (462.49 KB)
