Consolidated Non-Financial Report 2023 02.05.2024
(Consolidated) Non-Financial Report 2023 | UNIQA Group
living better together
(Consolidated) Non-Financial Report 2023
(Consolidated) non-financialreport
About this report
This report was prepared in accordance with the Austrian Sustainability and Diversity Improvement Act (Directive 2014/95/EU) and covers those sustainability concerns that also reflect our material sustainability topics.
The concepts described in this report correspond to the content of the 2023 Sustainability Report, which was prepared in accordance with the
performance indicators not cover the entire
Since
As in previous years, PwC Wirtschaftsprüfung GmbH Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft was commissioned to undertake the limited assurance audit in 2023. Further details on the audit outcomes can be found in the report on the independent audit of the consolidated non-financial report.
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Non-financial report
Company description
Sustainability strategy
We carefully address those conditions that we consider conducive to a better life. To do this, we enter into dialogue with stakeholders, experts and the public, share our own approaches and play an active role. Sustainability is therefore a key part of our actions. Thanks to our clear position on this matter, we can encourage understanding and support from all our stakeholders, namely employees, customers, investors and the public.
Our sustainability strategy is designed to be holistic. It ties our economic ambitions to a clear environmental and social commitment to protecting the environment and social re- sponsibility.
Our sustainability strategy was approved in
- ESG investment policy
- ESG product policy
- Sustainable operational management
- Transparent reporting
- Stakeholder management
Our fundamental objective in 2023, as in the previous year, was to put this sustainability strategy into operation and embed it within the company by using milestone schedules. Our operational focus is on pillars 1 to 3, supported by transparent reporting (pillar 4) and stakeholder engagement (pil- lar 5). There is also particular focus on our climate strategy, which we pursue in accordance with recognised regulations (SBTi - Science Based Targets initiative) and as part of the memberships we have joined (NZAOA, GFA, PSI, PRI). More details can be found in the Environmental matters section.
Materiality concept
UNIQA's success is built on the fact that we understand how the world is changing and how we need to be able to respond to this. Our last materiality analysis took place in 2021 and identified those ESG issues deemed by our stakeholders and our business to be the most important. In 2021, we also conducted a new stakeholder identification process, including the associated weighting. We defined four stakeholder groups from this who are directly affected by our business activities, namely customers, employees, investors and the public.
The materiality analysis forms the basis for our sustainability approach, sustainability strategy and our reporting. The four most important material topics from a stakeholder perspective in 2021 were cyber risks, digital service and customer focus, advice and prevention for natural disasters as well as training and education of employees.
The five most important topics from UNIQA's perspective were the health and safety of employees, data security and processing, training and education, commitment to the environment as well as diversity and equal opportunity.
In the 2023 financial year, we initiated a group-wide project aimed at preparing us for the reporting requirements of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS), where a "double materiality analysis" redefines the reporting limits. The analysis includes the initial collection and assessment of impacts, opportunities and risks along the value chain, involving key stakeholders such as NGOs and rating agencies. It will be completed in 2024 and will form the basis for our future reporting.
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(Consolidated) Non-Financial Report 2023
ESG integration
The Supervisory Board deals with sustainability reporting each year in the advisory body of the Audit Committee. Here it decides on the sustainability strategy to be pursued. The Group Executive Board reports to the Supervisory Board on a quarterly basis, looking at progress with regard to environmental and social targets. The ESG Committee is embedded in the governance of the
Our key body for sustainability agendas is the Group ESG Committee, which was formed in 2021. It consists of members of the Management Board of
The Sustainability Management team is part of the Sustain- ability, Ethics and Public Affairs department, which was newly created in early 2020. It is responsible for operationally managing the integration of ESG factors into the
In 2023, we started to integrate strategic ESG coordinators into the local organisational structure and governance in all the
Part of the variable remuneration for the Management Board of the
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Non-financial report
Sustainability risks
In accordance with the latest amendment to the delegated act of the Solvency II Directive (2009/138/EC), sustainability risks must be taken into account in the risk management system. This Directive entered into force on
In 2023, the
coming changes resulting from a review of the Solvency II quantitative reporting templates. This involves reporting quantitative data on physical and transitional risks directly to the national supervisory authority and the
Material risks related to non-financial concerns are explained in more detail in the respective sections of this report.
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(Consolidated) Non-Financial Report 2023
Environmental matters
This section describes the influence of environmental matters on our business activities along with the impacts of our business activities on the environment. It explains the concepts and measures in place as well as specific targets and impacts.
The following topics in particular are of material importance in terms of environmental matters: commitment to climate action, commitment to European climate targets, and advice on and prevention of natural disasters. We are tackling these challenges by supporting the transition to a low-carbon economy through our investments and insurance products. It is also our aim to structure our own operational management in an exemplary fashion, taking our environmental and social targets into account.
UNIQA climate strategy
We took our first major step towards implementing our own climate strategy in early 2019, when we approved UNIQA's decarbonisation policy to phase out coal in our investments and underwriting. To pursue more general climate targets, we acceded to the
The key objectives in UNIQA's climate strategy are as fol- lows:
- Pursuit of climate target trajectory in line with the 1.5 de- grees Celsius target set under the Paris Agreement in investments and underwriting, and operational ecology in compliance with both EU climate change mitigation and climate change adaption targets
- Net-zeroemissions in our business model by 2040 in
Austria , and by 2050 throughout the entire Group - Pursuit of and compliance with science-based interim targets for 2025, 2030 and 2035 based on climate target trajectory in line with the 1.5 degrees Celsius target set under the Paris Agreement
- Increase in sustainable investments to more than €2 bil- lion by 2025
- Prevention of any negative impact on other EU environ- mental targets
- Compliance with minimum social standards
We define net-zero emissions as (a) the reduction of our scope 1, 2 and 3 carbon emissions to zero at best or to a residual level that is compatible with achieving net-zero emissions at global or sectoral level in corresponding scenarios or sector paths within the framework of the 1.5 degrees Celsius tar- get; and (b) the neutralisation of all residual emissions to the net-zero target year and all greenhouse gas emissions subsequently released into the atmosphere.
Validation of our climate targets by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi)
Our interim targets to reduce CO2 in our investments and own operational management by 2030 have been successfully reviewed and validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) since
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Non-financial report
Environmental matters in investment
In our investment strategy, we are guided by the principles of sustainability, commit ourselves to the climate target trajectory in line with the 1.5 degrees Celsius target set under the Paris Agreement to achieve net-zero emissions across the Group by 2050, and actively promote decarbonisation as a company and investor. By focusing the analysis of our portfolio on CO2, we identify climate risks and opportunities at an early stage and can assess how ready our issuers are for the transformation in line with the Paris Agreement. Failure to comply with ESG criteria in our investment decisions not only has a negative impact on the environment and society, but also carries the risk of reputational damage. Targeted sustainable investments contribute to financing the trans- formation, reduce our exposure to ESG risks and increase sustainability-related opportunities. We engage in intensive dialogue with companies and asset managers to fulfil our role as an investor.
Decarbonisation strategy
As part of our membership in the
This year's successful validation of our interim climate targets by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) rounds off our sustainability strategy for investments. By 2030, we aim to gradually transform our portfolio and reduce our Scope 3 emissions, which are largely generated in Scope 3.15 (Investments) by our investments. We also encourage our investors to set science-based climate targets themselves. By working with our specialist data provider ISS (
These data on our investees are necessary, among other things, to ensure our exclusion or phase-out strategy, which provides for the following limitations:
Coal
- First coal exclusion criteria from 2019
- No new direct investments in companies with more than 5 per cent of their revenue from the coal business from 2024
- Phase-outof existing direct investments in companies with more than 5 per cent of their revenue from the coal business by 2030
- New investment products offered will only be coal-free
Oil
- Orderly withdrawal from oil by 2030
- No new direct investments in the expansion of oil infra- structure projects from 2025
- No new direct investments in companies with more than 30 per cent of their revenue from the oil sector from 2025
- Divestment of direct investments in companies with more than 5 per cent of their revenue from the oil business by 2030
Natural gas
- Orderly withdrawal from natural gas by 2035
- No new direct investments in the expansion of natural gas infrastructure projects from 2026
- No new direct investments in companies with more than 30 per cent of their revenue from the natural gas sector from 2026
- Divestment of direct investments in companies with more than 5 per cent of their revenue from the natural gas busi- ness by 2035
- If a company has SBTi-validated targets, carries out EU
taxonomy -aligned activities or publicly commits to the Paris Agreement, an exception can be made for our limits.
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(Consolidated) Non-Financial Report 2023
Nuclear energy
- No new direct investments in the expansion of nuclear infrastructure projects from 2025
- Divestment of investments in companies with more than 5 per cent of their revenue from nuclear energy by 2035
- If a company has SBTi-validated targets, carries out EU
taxonomy -aligned activities or publicly commits to the Paris Agreement, an exception can be made for our limits.
Carbon emission intensity
Our decarbonisation target trajectory focuses on individual issuers whose greenhouse gas emissions are calculated using the weighted average carbon emission intensity (WACI). This key indicator is calculated for companies as the sum of Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions relative to the company's revenue,
weighted by our investment volume. We are also observing Scope 3 emissions, but are not currently including them in the key indicator. Once we have meaningful reports on corporate Scope 3 emissions, we plan to take them into account.
We use the values for 2021 as the baseline to measure our activities and targets. On this basis, the UNIQA portfolio's WACI has fallen by 29 per cent from 2021 to 2023 and by 27 per cent since the previous year. This shows the improvement in the efficiency of the companies in which we are in- vested, with regard to their Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions in relation to their revenue. As such, we have reached our emissions reduction target of 15 per cent compared to 2021, which was set for the beginning of 2025, a year earlier. The decrease from 2022 to 2023 is mainly due to the reduction in the emission intensity of our existing in- vestments.
|
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2025 |
|
|
(baseline year) |
(target) |
|||
|
Weighted average carbon emission intensity |
||||
|
[Scope 1 & 2 t CO₂e/€ million revenue] |
99 |
96 |
701) |
84 |
- The Executive Board's remuneration for 2023 was linked, among other things, to the WACI key indicator.
Carbon Risk Rating
The Carbon Risk Rating is an overall assessment of companies and countries on a scale of 0 to 100 for climate risk management, determined by ISS. A higher rating indicates improved carbon management. For companies, the assessment is based on more than 100 industry-specific indicators that classify the carbon risk at industry and subsector level. For states, the rating assesses the government's effectiveness in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to climate risks. The rating is weighted by investment volume. In 2023, our rating improved by 4 per cent compared with 2022, partly due to our investment decisions and partly due to an improvement in internal risk management at the companies we invested in.
2022 2023
|
Carbon Risk Rating |
50.2 |
52.4 |
ESG performance score
The ESG performance score monitors the ESG profile of our investments and ranges from 0 to 100, with over 50 considered "Prime" and showing above average ESG performance. The score is composed of industry-specific and cross-industry indicators with different weighting depending on the in- dustry. The topics cover dealing with suppliers, the standard of corporate governance in the company as well as environmental aspects. The score is weighted by investment volume. Our ESG performance score remained relatively stable at the ISS Prime level of 51.6 in 2023 compared with 2022.
2022 2023
|
ESG performance score |
51.3 |
51.6 |
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Non-financial report
Absolute financed emissions
Absolute financed emissions provide an indication of the carbon emissions that we finance through our investments in companies and countries. The indicator is calculated by multiplying our holding in a company by its Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions. We obtain this data from ISS. UNIQA's financed emissions increased by 7 per cent compared with 2022, but are still 21 per cent below their 2021 level. In 2023, the share of companies that have set themselves SBTi emission reduction targets in the total emissions financed by UNIQA increased to 31 per cent (compared with 24 per cent in 2022). For this reason, we expect a future reduction in our corporate portfolio's financed emissions.
In line with our NZAOA membership, we started monitoring other country-specific issues for government bonds in 2023 using the PCAF methodology3). The monitoring is to be used in future for NZAOA reporting and a key indicator is to be derived as a basis for future targets. We are reporting for the first time on the absolute emissions financed from government bonds for 2023.
|
Volume |
Carbon |
|
|
emissions 2023 |
||
|
invested |
||
|
(Scope 1) |
||
|
(EUR) |
||
|
[t CO₂e]4) |
||
|
Financed emissions from |
||
|
government bonds |
6,029,700,423 |
2,088,428 |
|
2022 |
2023 |
|
|
Financed emissions from corporate |
||
|
investments* [t CO2 e] |
383,746 |
409,714 |
|
Share of financed corporate in- |
||
|
vestment emissions with targets |
||
|
approved by SBTi* |
24% |
31%2) |
- The coverage of financed emissions from our investments in listed companies, corporate bonds (excluding collateralised debt) and
corporate loans was 77 per cent for 2023.
The coverage of the total financed emissions from our investments in listed companies, corporate bonds (excluding collat- eralised debt), corporate loans and government bonds was 47 per cent for 2023. In the near future, we plan to increase this coverage by engaging in other asset classes.
- The Executive Board's remuneration for 2023 was linked, among other things, to the SBTi percentage.
- PCAF methodology: (investment position in government bonds (EUR)/GDP adjusted for purchasing power (EUR)
-
- country's Scope 1 production emissions [t CO₂e])
- The data are taken from the UNFCCC (
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ) database. The data cover 100 per cent of direct investments in government bonds.
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(Consolidated) Non-Financial Report 2023
Sustainable investments
Principal adverse impacts
With reference to the EU Sustainable Financial Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) we monitor the diverse criteria for the negative impact of individual issuers on the environment and society - described as principal adverse impacts - and have been reporting on these indicators for the first time since mid-2023 for our investment activities. One focus area is the annual reduction of CO2e emissions. Similarly, we monitor social issues such as non-compliance with the principles of the
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Attachments
Disclaimer



Report of the Supervisory Board 2023 02.05.2024
Proxy authorization 02.05.2024
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