Company Profiles

Swiss Re

Switzerland

Swiss Re is a global leader in insuring insurance companies, a field known as reinsurance. The company has core business areas in property and casualty reinsurance, life and health reinsurance, and offers products and services for financial companies. Swiss Re was an early leader in the insurance industry on the importance of environmental issues and it lobbies for strong public policies to combat climate change. For example, senior managers from Swiss Re have participated in the Clinton Global Initiative, the G8 Climate Change Roundtable, and the United Nations Environment Program's Finance Initiative Climate Change Working Group. The company is active in business, government, and citizen education about the increasing financial, environmental, and health impacts of climate destabilization. By recognizing the importance of global warming and pollution issues, and the impacts of these phenomena on its business, Swiss Re creates incentives for its clients to reduce their impact on the environment. The company's insurance rates are based, in part, on a client's environmental impact and the risks associated with that impact. The company also directs a portion of its investment portfolio toward "sustainability-related market segments, such as alternative energy, carbon, water, and resource efficiency markets." Areas for improvement include reducing business travel (and associated greenhouse gas emissions), and increasing reporting details on environmental performance indicators.

To the best of our knowledge the above information is accurate and was obtained from sources we believe to be reliable. Neither the information presented above nor any opinion expressed shall be construed as an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy the security. The views expressed are those of portfolio management as of 9/30/09 and may not reflect current opinions or subsequent events.