Partner initiative: the Swiss Climate Foundation

In 2008, we set up the Swiss Climate Foundation with a number of partner companies. It was a response to the introduction of the Swiss CO₂ law, which provides the basis for the CO₂ levy on heating fuels in Switzerland. This levy is not a proper tax but an environmental market mechanism: it imposes a charge on the use of heating fuels and then reimburses the money thus raised – to private companies proportionate to their total salary expenses. For financial service providers, who use relatively small amounts of heating fuel but employ large workforces, this means they receive a net rebate,

Supporting climate-friendly projects of small and medium-sized companies

The purpose of the Swiss Climate Foundation is to collect these funds and to use them to support various climate-friendly projects undertaken by small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) in Switzerland. Over the last 15 years, the foundation has provided grants of CHF 38 million to over 2 300 SMEs in Switzerland and the Principality of Liechtenstein. Of these grants, over CHF 20 million supported around 180 innovation projects and another CHF 18 million were spent on the former funding programmes, such as the energy efficiency programme or the forest conservation programme. Since 2022, the Swiss Climate Foundation has focused exclusively on innovation projects.

Sponsoring the Foundation's managing director position

In addition to paying our net levy reimbursement, Swiss Re has been sponsoring the Foundation's managing director position since it was established in 2008.