As an international financial services provider, Allianz sees sustainable development as fundamental to its business. In its 2010 Sustainable Development Report, released online, Allianz details its activities in support of its ongoing strategic commitment to deliver superior solutions to customers, employees, shareholders, and society. Despite 2009 being the aftermath of the financial crisis, Allianz remained stable in its financial performance. Allianz continued to invest in sustainable development activities, rolled out new social initiatives, and even made significant progress in some areas, such as reducing the Allianz Group's CO2 footprint.
Sustainable Development Report 2010
At the end of 2009, Allianz had invested about 760 million euros in approximately 20 wind and solar parks in France, Germany and Italy – enough to power about 290,000 households with electricity for a year.
40 percent of the global population lives on less than 2 US-dollars a day. Poor people are more severely affected by natural disasters, accidents and illness. They also lack the opportunity to save, or to take out insurance to hedge against these shocks. Allianz' microinsurance products are particularly designed for low-income households with no other access to basic insurance. So far some 3.8 million customers have taken out microinsurance from Allianz.
Water scarcity is becoming one of the major challenges of the 21st century. It is a big problem, but it is also a great chance for improving and developing sustainable solutions for lessening the effects of resource shortages. For investors, new technologies for the mitigation of climate-related difficulties present opportunities. Allianz has therefore developed themed investment strategies to capture this interest, such as the Allianz RCM Global Water Fund - about 50 million euros was invested in this Fund in 2009.
Demographic change is another global challenge. Aging populations and declining birth rates are causing fundamental shifts in societies around the world. New financing solutions and forms of insurance will have to be found to tackle this issue. In China, for instance, Allianz launched the Super Fit Insurance package, which allows customers to decide the length of the policy term, premium payment period, and duration of the benefit payment period. Within five months of launch, 2.1 million euros in premium had been received.
Despite having a relatively low carbon footprint compared to other industries, Allianz also wants to make its contribution to environmental protection. For example, by capturing waste heat from IT hardware, Allianz saved 36,634 Gigajoules (GJ) of energy in 2009 and 414,210 GJ since 1998 ― enough to supply more than a million households for a year.
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