Media release: Helvetia is committed to renewable energy and has joined the RE100 initiative

Media release

St.Gallen, 14 November 2016

Helvetia is committed to renewable energy and has joined the RE100 initiative

Helvetia has joined RE100, a global initiative of companies working together to encourage the use of renewable energy sources. By becoming a member, Helvetia wants to promote the transition to a climate friendly economy. The internationally active insurance group already procures all its energy from renewable sources.

The UN Climate Change Conference is being held in Marrakech until 18 November 2016. At this conference governments, companies and civil organizations are addressing the implementation of the 2°C target set almost a year ago as part of the Paris Agreement.

Several voluntary projects aiming to reduce CO2 emissions have already been established, one of which is RE100. By joining this global initiative, companies agree they will henceforth use electricity from renewable sources only. The 83 companies which have signed up to RE100 want their commitment to spur others on, increasing global demand for and delivery of renewable energy. They publish on the Internet what they are doing specifically to combat global warming, with the aim of encouraging other companies to do the same. Helvetia Insurance has now joined RE100, pledging to procure 100% of the electricity it uses in all the countries it operates in from renewable sources by 2020 at the latest.

Insurance industry directly affected by climate change

"The effects of climate change are manifold and also affect the insurance industry directly," said Philipp Gmür, CEO of Helvetia Group. "Our knowledge of the risks and the fact that insurance is an industry which must always consider the long term motivate us to support the fight against human-induced climate change." Philipp Gmür pointed out that this is only possible if the company itself makes a contribution, and emphasized the fact that "environmental protection must always start with the individual". At Helvetia, the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions is an established part of corporate responsibility management. In terms of electricity consumption, Helvetia has already exceeded its own targets: last year the insurance group switched to renewable sources for all its electricity.

This media release is also available on our website www.helvetia.com/media.

For further information please contact:

Analysts Helvetia Group Susanne Tengler Head of Investor Relations Dufourstrasse 40 CH-9001 St.Gallen Phone: [phone] Fax: [phone] [e-mail] www.helvetia.com

Media Helvetia Group Christina Wahlstrand-Hartmann Head of Media Relations Dufourstrasse 40 CH-9001 St.Gallen Phone: [phone] Fax: [phone] [e-mail] www.helvetia.com

About the Helvetia Group

In over 150 years, the Helvetia Group has grown from a number of Swiss and foreign insurance companies into a successful international insurance group. Today, Helvetia has subsidiaries in its home market Switzerland as well as in the countries that make up the Europe market area: Germany, Italy, Austria and Spain. With its Specialty Markets market area, Helvetia is also present in France and in selected regions worldwide. Some of its investment and financing activities are managed through subsidiaries and fund companies in Luxembourg and Jersey. The Group is headquartered in St.Gallen, Switzerland.

Helvetia is active in the life and non-life business, and also offers customised specialty lines and reinsurance cover. Its business activities focus on retail customers as well as small and medium-sized companies and larger corporates. With some 6,700 employees, the company provides services to more than 4.7 million customers. With a business volume of CHF 8.24 billion, Helvetia generated underlying earnings of CHF 439 million in the 2015 financial year. The registered shares of Helvetia Holding are traded on the SIX Swiss Exchange under the symbol HELN.

Cautionary note

This document was prepared by Helvetia Group and may not be copied, altered, offered, sold or otherwise distributed to any other person by any recipient without the consent of Helvetia Group. Although all reasonable effort has been made to ensure that the facts stated herein are correct and the opinions contained herein are fair and reasonable, where any information and statistics are quoted from any external source such information or statistics should not be interpreted as having been adopted or endorsed as accurate by Helvetia Group. Neither Helvetia Group nor any of its directors, officers, employees and advisors nor any other person shall have any liability whatsoever for loss howsoever arising, directly or indirectly, from any use of this information. The facts and information contained in this document are as up to date as is reasonably possible but may be subject to revision in the future. Neither Helvetia Group nor any of its directors, officers, employees or advisors nor any other person makes any representation or warranty, express or implied, as to the accuracy or completeness of the information contained in this document.

This document may contain projections or other forward-looking statements related to Helvetia Group which by their very nature involve inherent risks and uncertainties, both general and specific, and there is a risk that predictions, forecasts, projections and other outcomes described or implied in forward-looking statements will not be achieved. We caution you that a number of important factors could cause results to differ materially from the plans, objectives, expectations, estimates and intentions expressed in such forward-looking statements. These factors include: (1) changes in general economic conditions, in particular in the markets in which we operate; (2) the performance of financial markets; (3) changes in interest rates; (4) changes in currency exchange rates; (5) changes in laws and regulations, including accounting policies or practices; (6) risks associated with implementing our business strategies; (7) the frequency, magnitude and general development of insured events; (8) mortality and morbidity rates; (9) policy renewal and lapse rates as well as (10), the realisation of economies of scale as well as synergies. We caution you that the foregoing list of important factors is not exhaustive; when evaluating forward-looking statements, you should carefully consider the foregoing factors and other uncertainties. All forward-looking statements are based on information available to Helvetia Group on the date of its publication and Helvetia Group assumes no obligation to update such statements unless otherwise required by applicable law.

Media release (PDF)

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