Having developed an impact investment approach for its fixed income, private equity, and private debt, Zurich now measures its portfolio impacts against its stated objectives.

Winning the award for the second year in a row, Zurich's impact targets include having an impact investment portfolio that it says helps to avoid five million tonnes of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions per year. In 2022, the impact investing portfolio was $6.3 billion, and Zurich claims it benefited 4.7 million people and helped avoid 3.2 million tonnes of GHG emissions.

It only regards those investments that attempt to measure impact as an impact investment and encourages impact investors to use standards such as the Global Impact Investing Network's (GIIN) Impact Reporting and Investment Standards (IRIS), or the Green Bond Principles (GBP) harmonised framework for impact reporting.

For social impact, or its objective to increase community resilience, Zurich counts the number of people who benefited from an investment, be it in health, education, housing, financial inclusion, or any other measure rather than the potential audience or catchment benefit of an investment.

"We believe creating long-term, sustainable value is not only possible but necessary," said Danielle Brassel, director of responsible investment at Zurich. "Zurich is committed to building an impact investment portfolio that helps to avoid five million metric tons of CO₂ emissions per year, and, separately, makes a positive contribution to the lives and livelihoods of five million people. The impact becomes part of the investment objective and is measurable."

By openly sharing its step-by-step methodology of how it calculates the impact of its investments Zurich hopes to encourage other investors to measure their impact and link investments to positive outcomes.

The firm last year committed to having 5% of its assets under management in impact investments.