Most German insurers not really interested in sustainability reporting – study

The majority of German insurance companies do not regard sustainability reporting on their business activities as worthwhile enough to produce a very informative document, a study of more than 40 Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Reports of German insurers by Zielke Research Consult has found. Company CEO Carsten Zielke said the research had focused on social and environmental criteria and found that “many of the lower-ranking companies had almost no interest in publishing their CSR measures” and instead switched to “a lot of blah-blah” in their reports. The study not only looked at the companies’ carbon footprint but also at the importance that so-called ESG criteria (environmental, social, governance) play in investment decisions of “Europe’s biggest investors”,” but in both cases only about one in four companies delivered workable results. This could only lead to the conclusion that “sustainability has no special value in these companies’ culture”, said Zielke.

A German government committee in February concluded Germany should strive become a leading location for sustainable finance and promote its principles both to other governments and the private sector. The EU is already working on a taxonomy for finding a common definition of sustainability in the financial sector, which is intended to make ESG criteria more binding for banks and insurance companies when making investment decisions.