Over the last year, the Allianz Sustainability Team has focused on business opportunities emerging from sustainability trends. Good PR? No, just good business.
 | Refa - her mother is now protected by a microinsurance from Allianz Indonesia (Photo: Allianz) |
Companies have long shied away from mixing sustainability with profit-oriented business. When companies do bring them together, they are often criticized – sometimes rightfully so – for shameless PR or “greenwashing.” There are, however, many good reasons why social responsibility should not always take a backseat in business strategies. Nor is philanthropy always the most effective way for a company to raise its “green” profile.
“With philanthropy you help certain people to solve the problems they face, and indeed you can see that more and more companies are searching solutions for societal problems,” says Astrid Zwick, Head of the Allianz Sustainability Office. “However, philanthropy alone is not enough. To have a bigger impact business should start to make use from the leverage effect they can have through their very own business activities.”
 | Click the image to see how Dow Jones rates sustainability at AllianzAllianz ranks among the Super Sector Leaders in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (Photo: Dow Jones) |
Sustainability issues are naturally interwoven into the business of companies. When corporations become sustainable, the “business” case and the “social” case will become one and the same. In 2006, Allianz took some big steps in this direction, as the latest Sustainability Report shows:
Climate Change
Climate change is the single most important threat to the business lines of Allianz. Forty percent of all losses in the industrial insurance sector have been due to storms and flooding. But with growing consumer awareness and upcoming legislation, new markets and business possibilities will emerge.
Microfinance
Another example is microinsurance, a concept that provides financial security to poor people, many of whom have never before been able to protect their family and businesses with financial tools. Over 270,000 micro-policy holders in India, Egypt, and Indonesia are already adding to the Allianz turnover.
Sustainability Index
Allianz has been rated a “super-sector leader” in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index for the second year in a row. This improves the standing of Allianz among professional investors, for whom the sustainability index is becoming an increasingly important benchmark. Allianz has been acknowledged for its focus on innovation as a business driver, its ability to attract talent, and its human resource management.
Lutz Cleemann, chairman of the Allianz Sustainability Strategy Team, sees the rating as recognition of Allianz Group's efforts: "We have achieved the top rating, which proves that we have channeled our efforts in the right direction: clear and transparent communication, the code of conduct, attention towards emerging risks in the Group risk policy, and anchoring sustainability aspects, such as climate change, within the different business lines."
The complete report is available at www.allianz.com/sustainability. An executive summary can be downloaded there, as well.
editor: Miriam Wolf
publishing date: October 10, 2007
