Our Sustainability work – a broader Customer Due Diligence
Every day we work to improve and develop our sustainability efforts, many small and some big steps at a time. As most companies, we evolve our scope as we learn more, and we don’t see a finish line.
If is a subsidiary of Sampo Group. Sampo obtained UN Global Compact membership in 2019. As part of Sampo, we work to implement sustainability on all levels and in all our operations in If.
We are driven by our close knowledge of how climate affects people’s lives and communities in the most profound ways, often leaving those affected with sorrow and loss.
We strongly believe that we are all part of the solution the world needs. In If, we use our competence to support our customers and our influence to prove the benefits sustainable strategy and operations.
UN Global Compact and its 10 principles
The UN Global Compact is the world’s largest corporate initiative, with almost 13 000 corporate members. If is a member through Sampo.
UN Global Compact works to make companies around the world set strategies and operations in alignment with 10 chosen sustainability principles. The principles focus on human rights, environment, anti-corruption and labour – four areas that are important to achieve UN’s Sustainability Goals.
“By expecting sustainable behavior also from our client companies, we are working towards our ambition of actively contributing to a more sustainable company and society. We also want to motivate our corporate clients to comply with the UN Global Compact principles. If is the largest P&C insurance company in the Nordics and our corporate clients operate all around the world, which means our actions have global effects”, Morten Thorsrud, President and CEO of If believes.
The 10 principles are:
Human Rights
Principle 1: Businesses should support and respect the protection of internationally proclaimed human rights.
Principle 2: Make sure that they are not complicit in human rights abuses.
Labour
Principle 3: Businesses should uphold the freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining.
Principle 4: Elimination of all forms of forced and compulsory labour.
Principle 5: Effective abolition of child labour.
Principle 6: Elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation.
Environment
Principle 7: Businesses should support a precautionary approach to environmental challenges.
Principle 8: Undertake initiatives to promote greater environmental responsibility.
Principle 9: Encourage the development and diffusion of environmentally friendly technologies.
Anti-Corruption
Principle 10: Businesses should work against corruption in all its forms, including extortion and bribery.
How does this affect our corporate clients?
Our focus on the UN Global Compact principles is considerable and long term.
From June 2021, we have implemented sustainability in our underwriting by implementing the UN Global Compact principles (above) directly into our existing Customer Due Diligence (CDD).
Our customers will be assessed according to the UN Global Compact principles. This assessment is based on norm-based research from an external partner specialized in ESG (Environment, Social and Governance). Our external partner uses official information from many national and international sources for the assessment. The assessment company does not access information on If’s corporate customers or If’s customer base.
We have established internal ESG assessment teams. The assessments are used as part of our total assessment of client relationship. If’s internal assessment teams will make decisions based on the external partner’s research and grading.
We expect such findings amongst our clients to be rare. We will notify our corporate customers and discuss with them if we have concerns that might affect our client relationship. The client company will be asked to improve relevant processes so that our client relationship can continue. The ESG assessment team can make one of the following decisions:
- OK to proceed, but the company is under observation
- Conditional approval (OK to proceed, but the company need to take action)
- Not OK to proceed, insurance is not offered/renewed.
We already see that clients who have been notified of a violation, are doing their best to become compliant.
Read more about responsible Underwriting at Sampo's page: Sustainable Underwriting, Sampo
Our future
The world is at an important turning point, and the choices companies make, will impact generations.
We will use our knowledge and our capabilities to impact these choices in the best way for the generations that come.
Read more about UN Global Compact here: https://www.unglobalcompact.org/
The 10 UN Global Compact principles: https://www.unglobalcompact.org/what-is-gc/mission/principles