Sustainable operations
Zurich aims to achieve an early mover net-zero position in our operations by 20301. We continue to aim for net-zero in our investments and underwriting by 2050.
Our approach to operational sustainability
Our priority is to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e)2 emissions in the atmosphere emitted from our operational activities. In 2025, we have exceeded our target to reduce absolute emissions of our own operations3 by 60 percent.
Success measures include:
- Renewable power: In 2019, Zurich announced its commitment to purchase 100 percent renewable power across all operations by the end of 20224 and joined the RE100 initiative5.
- Car fleet electrification: In 2025, 74 percent of our global fleet was hybrid, plug-in hybrid, or battery electric vehicles. This falls short of our ambition, set in 2021, to eliminate pure internal combustion engines by year-end 2025. While we have encountered challenges, particularly in regions with greater technical and market limitation, the ambition has helped keep the focus on electrification high on our agenda and spurred progress. For our 2029 electrification goal, which includes plug-in hybrid EVs, we are now at 57 percent.
- Business travel: We maintain rigorous oversight of our air travel activities, while prioritizing the needs of our customers and partners, which we also balance against internal collaboration requirements.
Even with deep and widespread cuts, we know that it will be impossible to reduce all emissions to zero. That’s why we will balance out all our unavoidable residual emissions by funding projects that will remove carbon from the atmosphere for the long term already in 2030
For our supply chain, our goal is for 75 percent of our managed procurement spend6 to be with suppliers that have science-based7 emissions reduction targets by 2025 and net zero8 targets by 2030.
Our governance principles
We strive to lead by example, and this drives our approach to operational sustainability at Zurich Insurance Group (Zurich). To help accelerate reductions in emissions and enhance resilience to climate change, we integrate sustainability considerations into our operational business processes.
Good governance principles to guide our own behavior help reinforce our ambition to be recognized as one of the most responsible and impactful businesses in the world.
An essential part of our approach is our spirit of collaboration. Internally, with our suppliers and other external engagements, we strive to bring together ideas and people to learn from one another, and develop new initiatives and programs to enhance our sustainability efforts.
Since 2014, Zurich has implemented internal guidelines based on external guidance as provided by the ISO14001 Environmental Management System. These guidelines align with the expectations expressed by our shareholders, investors, customers, employees and corporate peers, who expect Zurich to demonstrate best practice in operational sustainability performance. Our approach to the management of sustainability risks and opportunities in Zurich’s operations is further explained in Zurich's approach to operational sustainability file.
Key sustainable operations programs
Operational Emissions Results
Absolute carbon emissions coming from our own operations1,2
In metric tons CO2e
| 2025 | Percent reduction (against baseline) for 2025 | 2024 | 2019 (baseline) | Target reduction by 2025 | Target reduction by 2029 | Target reduction by 2030 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total absolute carbon emissions | 55,983 | -69% | 56,406 | 180,805 | -60% | -70% | Net-zero |
| Total scope 1 + 2 emissions | 15,299 | -68% | 18,003 | 48,290 | -62% | -80% | Net-zero |
| Fleet emissions | 12,088 | 14,470 | 20,285 | ||||
| Onsite heating | 1,672 | 1,942 | 379 | ||||
| Electricity emissions | 25 | 26 | 20,630 | ||||
| District heating emissions | 1,515 | 1,565 | 3,581 | ||||
| Total scope 3 emissions | 40,684 | -69% | 38,403 | 132,515 | -60% | -67% | Net-zero |
| Printed paper | 1,689 | 2,117 | 2,435 | ||||
| Strategic data center | 0 | 0 | 6,847 | ||||
| Energy and fuel related emissions | 3,666 | 4,315 | 11,731 | ||||
| Waste | 131 | 150 | 808 | ||||
| Business travel emissions | 15,799 | 15,174 | 41,018 | ||||
| Air travel emissions³ | 14,662 | 14,091 | 39,435 | ||||
| Rental car emissions | 568 | 618 | 1,241 | ||||
| Rail emissions | 569 | 465 | 342 | ||||
| Employee commuting | 19,399 | 16,647 | 69,676 |
1 Zurich Cover-More, Farmers Group, Inc. and its subsidiaries, our joint ventures with Banco Sabadell and Banco Santander, smaller businesses like Real Garant and Orion, as well as our acquisition Zurich Kotak are excluded since they were not reflected in the CO2e emissions baseline in 2019, which was used to set the LTIP target.
2 Data in the table shown as metric tons of CO2e. Our environmental reporting methodology follows the GRI Standard, which is based on the requirements of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard. For more information on methodology, visit: https://www.zurich.com/sustainability/planet/sustainable-operations
3 Some air travel data is not captured through our central reporting, for example where booking is not possible through our standard channels. We estimate the gap to represent less than 10 percent of total air travel bookings. DEFRA emissions factors for air travel are held flat to the 2022 factor set given subsequent updates incorporated load factors which were impacted by the pandemic. This would have inflated air emissions by an estimated 20 percent and would not have reflected an accurate view of our travel activity.
In 2025, emissions remained relatively flat compared with 2024, maintaining a 69 percent reduction against our 2019 baseline. The most impactful reduction was seen in car fleet emissions, which reduced 17 percent against the previous year. Air travel emissions have only slightly increased by 4 percent against the previous year, given rigorous controls on air emissions. Commuting emissions represented the largest increase in emissions which was expected and in line with increased office presence, supporting face-to-face workforce collaboration and engagement.
In 2025, we further improved the quality of the reporting of emissions measurement for entities which were not included in the baseline in 2019, moving from a pure estimation approach in 2024 to collection of actual activity data in 202510.
Absolute carbon emissions for entities not included in the baseline1
| In metric tons CO2e | 2025 |
|---|---|
| Absolute carbon emissions | 15,798 |
| Scope 1 carbon emissions | 702 |
| Scope 2 carbon emissions | 5,292 |
| Scope 3 carbon emissions | 9,804 |
1 Data in the table shown as in metric tons of CO2e and follows the same methodology as the absolute carbon emissions reported in the table above
Reporting methodology – key facts
- Zurich’s environmental reporting methodology follows the GRI Standard, which is based on the requirements of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol Corporate Accounting Standards. In line with the guidance provided by these standards, we comply with mandatory scope 1 and scope 2 emissions reporting and include scope 3 emissions where we have determined the sources to be material, where we have the ability to report meaningful data, and where we have the ability to influence emissions reductions.
- All data is reported in line with the calendar year January 1 through December 31.
- For facilities (electricity and heating) and commuting data, extrapolations are used where no actual data is available, to ensure 100 percent coverage. Extrapolations are based on regional, global or country average intensity factors for electricity, heating, or commuting behavior (respectively).
- For larger offices (greater than 250 headcounts), where waste data is not reported, an extrapolation is applied based on global average intensity factors.
- Applied emission factors were obtained primarily from the most recent versions of the GHG Protocol, DEFRA and IEA. Where specific emission factors were available (e.g., national rail factors), these were utilized consistently by data type and source.
- Carbon offsets are not used to meet emissions reduction targets.
Verification of data
We are working to increase data transparency, quality and coverage of our environmental performance reporting. Zurich engages an external auditor to verify our operational environmental data published on this website. Data from 2021 onwards was verified at reasonable assurance level. The latest results and assurance statement on 2025 data is available here:
1 Excluding Farmers Group, Inc. and its subsidiaries
2 A carbon dioxide-equivalent is used to measure and compare emissions from greenhouse gases based on how much they contribute to global warming. Metrics for CO2e show how much a particular gas would contribute to global warming if it were carbon dioxide.
3 Zurich Cover-More, Farmers Group, Inc. and its subsidiaries, our joint ventures with Banco Sabadell and Banco Santander, smaller businesses like Real Garant and Orion, as well as our acquisition Zurich Kotak are excluded since they were not reflected in the CO2e emissions baseline in 2019, which was used to set the LTIP target.
4 Our 2022 target signifies Zurich’s commitment to achieving 100 percent renewable power globally. Zurich Cover More, our joint ventures with Banco Sabadell and Banco Santander, smaller businesses like Real Garant and Orion, as well as recent acquisition Kotak, are out of scope of this commitment. We aim to bring them in during 2026. We have procured renewable electricity to match the demand of our global offices, with the exception of Bermuda, where we are seeking the best solution. Due to its small load (0.17% of our global load) we rounded up the missing percentage to 100% for clarity in reporting. In addition, Zurich is a member of RE100, a global leadership initiative bringing together influential businesses committed to 100 percent renewable electricity to demonstrate our leadership and commitment to renewable energy. Qatar and Bahrain are excluded from our RE100 target boundary due to small electricity loads (<100 MWh/year), nevertheless we have sourced renewable certificates from adjacent markets for these offices. Our progress towards the RE100 technical criteria will be confirmed after the 2025 RE100 disclosure cycle. Power consumption in data centers is reported under scope 3 and is not included in the RE100 commitment. However, we have strived to closely align with RE100 technical criteria.
5 RE100 is a global leadership initiative bringing together influential businesses committed to 100 percent renewable electricity.
6 Managed procurement spend means the spend of approximately USD 2 billion annually managed by Zurich's Procurement and Vendor Management function on goods and services that are required to enable Zurich to maintain and develop its operations. In 2025, we successfully reduced the MPS reporting time lag thanks to a series of technical improvements. As a result, the reported MPS values now reflect the period from October 2024 through September 2025.
7 We consider a supplier to have science-based targets when their emission reduction targets are approved by a scientifically accredited body or otherwise require a reduction of at least 42 percent in scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2030.
8 We consider a supplier to have net-zero targets when their net-zero target is approved by a scientifically accredited body or otherwise has a public target to neutralize any residual scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2050.
9 Zurich’s operational emissions footprint boundary has changed over time. Zurich Cover More, our joint ventures with Banco Sabadell and Banco Santander, smaller businesses like Real Garant and Orion, were not historically part of our operational emissions footprint. Since 2024, we have included CO2e for these businesses, as well as our new acquisitions, in our offsetting activities. Farmers Group, Inc. and its subsidiaries, are out of scope of our offsetting activities.
10 Those include Zurich Cover-More, our joint ventures with Banco Sabadell and Banco Santander, smaller businesses like Real Garant and Orion and our acquisition Zurich Kotak. Estimations are still included in the table above where activity data is still not available. BOXX Insurance is not included due to the ongoing integration.
