Italian insurer Generali has committed to investing €3 billion in sustainable and green bonds by the end of 2022, as part of its sustainability objectives.
The commitment forms part of a larger climate protection goal for Generali to make between €8.5 billion and €9.5 billion of new green and sustainable investments in the period from 2021 to 2025.
Speaking at the EU Sustainable Investment Summit 2021, Generali Group CEO Philippe Donnet stressed the importance of public-private partnerships to successfully address climate change, as well as other global risks such as terrorism, cyber and pandemics.
The Summit marked the first event organized by the European Commission dedicated to the theme of sustainable investments, and followed the launch of the new European Green Deal which aims to make Europe the first climate-neutral continent by 2050.
During the event, each participant was asked to commit to an initiative in line with the sustainability objectives set by the European Commission.
“The solutions to face these issues can only be based on cooperation at all levels, in particular public-private partnerships,” Donnet noted during a panel. “As insurers, we strongly believe in this type of collaboration.”
Donnet was the only representative from the insurance sector among the speakers at the event that included numerous leading figures from the political and economic arenas as well as from the private sector.
Among them, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, Secretary General of the United Nations, António Guterres, European Commissioner for the Economy, Paolo Gentiloni, United States Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, John Kerry and the American entrepreneur and philanthropist, Bill Gates.
