Forging a bullet-proof sustainability strategy
Sustainability has long been part of Allianz Trade’s agenda, but in recent years we’ve raised our ambitions. Recognizing a growing urgency to address sustainability (and the opportunities that lie therein,) we asked ourselves: what role can a trade credit insurer play in supporting the energy transition?
In 2023, we thus set out to strengthen our internal capabilities and deepen our understanding of sustainability-related risks and opportunities. This ambition took shape through a top-to-bottom review of our sustainability strategy, and ensuring that we were aligned with Allianz Group’s net zero targets for 2050. The result was a roadmap built on four key pillars : reducing the impact of our operations; driving decarbonization across our portfolio; creating value for our customers through sustainable solutions; and strengthening governance by embedding ESG considerations into credit assessments and business decisions.
We received support from all directions in developing this strategy: employees from across business lines and around the world expressed a strong desire to contribute to meeting our sustainability goals, as well as strategic investment from our CEO and the entire Board of Management.
Clarity and commitment: inside our sustainability handbook
As we roll out our sustainability strategy, we recognize a responsibility to communicate clearly, transparently and regularly with our stakeholders and keep them abreast of our progress. This led to us publishing our Sustainability Handbook in April 2025.
The Handbook explains our sustainability approach—both the reasoning behind it and the actions that derive from it. It features the voices of real employees, showcasing product innovations and the tangible outcomes of our initiatives. Developed in close collaboration teams across Allianz Trade, it was designed to clearly explain our progress to all of our stakeholders, focusing on concrete actions and next steps.
The impact of the Sustainability Handbook has been significant. While employees were proud to see their contributions recognized, stakeholders including brokers and clients have responded positively to its clarity, transparency, relevance and authenticity.
From insight to action
As part of Allianz Group's commitment to sustainability, Allianz Trade is actively contributing to the goal of achieving net zero across our portfolio by 2050. We are proud to support this ambition through our EU Taxonomy-aligned framework in sustainable products, and by integrating ESG considerations into our country risk and credit assessments. Over the past few years, Allianz Trade has developed strong capabilities in evaluating low-carbon technologies, such as solar and wind energy, as well as electric vehicle battery systems. We are committed to transparency and accountability in our journey towards sustainability, working collaboratively within Allianz Group and with external partners to drive meaningful change.
Our global presence sets us apart, with cross-market knowledge-sharing networks enabling our teams worldwide. This international positioning helps us to stay informed on emerging low-carbon decisions for improved decision making.
To ensure the integration of sustainability throughout our operations and drive employee engagement, we’ve introduced a series of initiatives. These include Sustainability Days held throughout different European cities to foster dialogue, select Learning Fridays supporting knowledge-sharing on sustainability, including with external speakers, and internal communication channels to share updates on our progress. Employees also have access to role-specific sustainability training through our learning & development program, and will soon be able to take part in a simulation game in which they can explore climate decision-making, soon to be launched by our Group Sustainability Office (GSO).
An enhanced outlook for a green path forward
As we continue rolling out our sustainability roadmap, we’re now focusing the remainder of 2025 on executing our commitments effectively. Our goals include expanding our Surety Green2Green and Specialty Green2Green offerings aimed at powering the future of low-carbon technologies and renewables, reducing our portfolio’s carbon intensity, and moving to a low-emission vehicle fleet.
In the long-term, our vision is to embed sustainability into every facet of our business – and we’re committed to collaborating across all teams to make this a reality. Achieving a truly sustainable business model is an organization-wide effort that calls for a broadening of perspective from everyone. In this way, sustainability is like putting on 3D glasses: it reveals a new dimension of challenges and opportunities to help guide our path to tomorrow.
