Gjensidige defines sustainability in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. This means that Gjensidige’s activities shall help to strike a balance between climate and environmental considerations, social conditions, good corporate governance and finances, to ensure that future generations have the same ability to meet their needs as we do today.

Gjensidige shall maintain a stronger focus on sustainability and thereby help to implement the Paris Agreement and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Climate and environmental challenges give rise to new risks and opportunities for the insurance industry. Integrating sustainable solutions into our core activities and strategy is vital for creating value in the long term.

Gjensidige’s vision is to know the customer best and care the most. We aim to be the most customer-oriented general insurance company in the Nordic and Baltic area. This goal shall permeate the Company’s solutions and development agenda and characterise Gjensidige as a brand. The modern-day Gjensidige is built on a more than 200-year tradition of helping customers during the most difficult moments of their lives.

Our social mission and responsibility have been key factors in the emergence of the modern welfare society. It is only natural that we continue and further develop our role now that society is facing new, far-reaching challenges. A consequence of this is that helping our customers and society to prevent losses and make sustainable choices will be a key part of our customer orientation

We wish to develop an organisation in which diversity characterises our activities and generates new ideas and perspectives in the work to achieve a more sustainable society. We want our employees to be engaged and motivated, and we encourage them to give feedback on what works well and what areas could be improved, in our employee satisfaction survey.

Read more about our work in ‘Engaged employees’ in our Annual report 2019.

Gjensidige has operations in six different countries, is one of the biggest companies on the Oslo Stock Exchange and has many different stakeholders. Customers, employees, suppliers, investors/owners and society at large are our most important stakeholders. By stakeholder is meant those who influence or are influenced by the Company.

We engage in dialogue with our stakeholders as necessary, and the process is illustrated in “Creating value for our stakeholders”, in the Annual report 2019.

The 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the 169 targets are ambitious and call for a global effort to make the world a better place, focusing on the climate and the environment, social conditions and the economy. Through its activities, Gjensidige shall implement measures that promote the SDGs, and have a particular focus on the goals that are most relevant to an insurance company. 

Read more about our work with the UN SDGs in “Creating value for our stakeholders”, in the Annual report 2019

Gjensidige’s sustainability targets focus on three areas: a safer society, reduced carbon intensity and socially responsible investments. Some of the targets support more than one focus area. For example, our work on damage prevention contributes towards both a safer society and reduced carbon intensity by reducing the number of losses. 

A safer society	Reducing carbon intensity	Socially responsible investments
Damage prevention Sustainable products Engaged employees Social commitment Good corporate governance	Sustainable claims handling Digital transformation Reduce our own climate footprint	SRI policy FNs Global Compact-principles Follow-up on external managers

A safer society
The most important thing we can do to contribute to a safer society is to work on damage prevention activities. Sustainable products shall reflect customer needs, and we shall use our know-how and expertise to put the right price on insurable risks. We shall be a problem-solver that provides our customers with relevant services. We shall utilise the damage prevention opportunities that technology and digitalisation present. Insurance is very important to society and therefore subject to strict regulation. Good corporate governance is decisive to achieving our goals.
We need committed employees to be able to run an efficient business and achieve our goals. Taking social responsibility and supporting underprivileged people in different ways are important ways of creating social commitment and a meaningful workplace.

Reducing carbon intensity
We have ambitious goals of reducing our carbon intensity – meaning greenhouse gas emissions relative to earned premiums – for both our own operations and claims settlements.
For our own operations, our ambition is to be climate neutral by 2030.
Our most important measure to reduce carbonintensity is damage prevention,as the climate footprint of an accident that doesn’t happen is zero.. When a damage has occurred, our greatest opportunity to reduce carbon intensity is to motivate customers and suppliers to make more environmentally friendly choices about claims payments. We see great opportunities for encouraging more reuse, and promoting the circular economy. We will contribute to this in the way we design our products, and through collaboration with suppliers and other partners. Using the resources where they generate the greatest effect is essential, which is why we implement climate accounting as the basis for decisions going forward.

Socially responsible investments
Gjensidige shall help to ensure that the transition to a zero emission-society is a smooth as possible. Our investments shall be in accordance with the Board’s ESG policy (our policy for sustainable operations, of which investments are a part). Furthermore, the investments shall comply with the company’s SRI-policy and strategy to ensure that the investments are in accordance with Gjensidige’s ethical profile, and as far as possible in accordance with the UN Principles for Responsible Investments (PRI).

Read more about our work in ‘Gjensidige’s business model’ in the Annual report 2019

Gjensidige creates value by understanding the customers’ need for insurance products and services that create a sense of security.

We do this by understanding the risk customers face and by calculating how much to charge for taking over this risk. Gjensidige’s business model is based on a good understanding of society, and of what can be insured. Over a long period of time, we have built relevant expertise and efficient risk assessment systems, covering everything from risk selection and pricing to capital and asset management.
Our sales, advice and claims processes shall contribute to claims prevention and sustainable solutions in the event of claims settlement. Utilising opportunities for reuse and the circular economy will be given greater focus. The investment portfolio shall be managed responsibly in accordance with the UN Global Compact principles.

Read more about our work in ‘Gjensidige’s business model’ in the Annual report 2019

We can look back on a year in which we achieved many things that will benefit our customers, owners, employees and the environment, of which damage-preventing measures were one of the most important. Gjensidige has helped to prevent losses and accidents for more than 200 years, and we will give even higher priority to this work in line with the sustainability goals. Read more about our work in ‘Value created in 2019l’ in the Annual report 2019.

A safer society		Redusere CO2-intensiteten		Responsible investments
Damage prevention - 11,500 risk management checks in 2019 -  2700 press releases Established new sustainability fund for agriculture in cooperation with the Norwegian Farmers’ Union Wide product range to ensure life, health and values Risk mitigation measures integrated into pricing and terms Employee satisfaction among the best in the financial industry Sponsors the sport, culture and non-profit organizations		Supports reuse and circular economy Climate accounting in damage processes for measuring the CO2 footprint of material consumption Good cooperation with our suppliers Compliance with Global Compact principles Named by Bearing Point as the best digital insurance company in Norway		ESG should be an important parameter in all decisions, not least: - Selection of external managers - Investment analysis  We support as an investor the UN Global Compact and CDP, and are a member of NORSIF Through Oslo Areal we invest in sustainable buildings close to city centres We continuously work on improved measurement and analysis of climate risk