Responsible Investing Policy
RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. Responsible Investment Policy Integrating ESG Into Our Investment Practices As of June 30, 2022
RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. Responsible Investment Policy Integrating ESG Into Our Investment Practices Table of Contents P2 Foreword P3 SECTION I Our Approach to Responsible Investing P4 SECTION II Our Responsible Investment Policy: ESG Integration P6 SECTION III Governance & Reporting P7 SECTION IV Positive Action P8 SECTION V Stakeholder Engagement Cautionary Note on Forward Looking Statements Any forward-looking statements made in this Responsible Investment Policy, including any statements regarding any future results of operations and financial positions, business strategy, plan and any objectives for future operations, reflect the current views of RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (“RenaissanceRe,” the “Company,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) with respect to future events and financial performance and are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are subject to numerous factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those set forth in or implied by such forward-looking statements, including the factors affecting future results disclosed in RenaissanceRe’s filings with the SEC, including its Annual Reports on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. In this Responsible Investment Policy, references to “RenaissanceRe,” “we,” or “our” refer to RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (the parent company) and its subsidiaries and affiliates, including our joint ventures and managed funds.
RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. Responsible Investment Policy Integrating ESG Into Our Investment Practices Foreword At RenaissanceRe, our commitment to Environmental, Social and Governance (“ESG”) factors has always been a central part of our corporate strategy, and this commitment remains firmly embedded in our values today. RenaissanceRe’s purpose is to protect communities and enable prosperity. Our vision is to be the best underwriter. Our mission is to match desirable, well-structed risks with efficient sources of capital. Together, our purpose, mission and vision define the value proposition that we believe will enable us to deliver superior returns to our shareholders. Our purpose also drives our ESG strategy, which focuses on three areas where our risk acumen intersects with our ability to make a meaningful impact on society: Promoting Climate Resilience, Closing the Protection Gap and Inducing Positive Societal Change. This Responsible Investment Policy sets out how we intend to integrate our ESG strategy into the construction of our investment portfolio to support the achievement of our overall objectives while managing ESG risks and enabling positive change. It applies to the assets that we manage directly, as well as to those that are managed externally by our third- party investment managers. We believe that incorporating ESG into our investment process makes us better positioned to identify attractive and sustainable investment opportunities. As we progress our ESG strategy, we will look for opportunities to use the insights we develop to engage with others to share our knowledge on these topics. We look forward to working collaboratively with our key stakeholders in this endeavor to enable positive change and make a meaningful impact. Sean Brosnan, SVP, Chief Investment Officer For additional details of RenaissanceRe’s ESG strategy and activities see our dedicated ESG webpage, as well as our Annual Report to Shareholders and Annual Proxy Statement. www.renre.com/about-us/esg-at-renaissancere/
RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. Responsible Investment Policy Integrating ESG Into Our Investment Practices SECTION I - Our Approach to Responsible Investing We recognize that being a responsible investor We consider the social and economic consequences can be an extension of our corporate values and of our investment decisions to help support a purpose, and we believe we have the opportunity, transition to a climate positive economy. As such, through our investment activities, to help address RenaissanceRe seeks to develop its engagement societal challenges, particularly those that are and role in influencing positive behaviours and apply relevant to our mission and vision. To further the rules-based exclusions where it believes that, on sustainability of RenaissanceRe’s investment balance, specific investments present an elevated portfolio, certain ESG factors are considered level of risk of causing significant socio-economic or within our investment strategy. We believe that environmental harm. incorporating ESG into our investment process makes us better positioned to identify attractive and We are a signatory of the UN Principles for sustainable investment opportunities. Responsible Investment (PRI) in partnership with the UNEP Finance Initiative and the UN Global Compact. We structure RenaissanceRe’s investment portfolio We are proud to be part of this global community to to emphasize the preservation of capital and the build a more sustainable financial system. availability of liquidity to meet our claims obligations, to be well diversified across market sectors and to generate relatively attractive returns on a risk-adjusted basis over time. The majority of our investments are highly rated fixed income securities. We also hold a significant amount of short-term investments. In addition, we hold other investments, including direct private equity investments, catastrophe bonds, fund investments and term loans. This Responsible Investment Policy sets out how we intend to integrate our ESG strategy and the construction of our investment portfolio to support the achievement of our overall objectives. It applies to the assets that we manage internally, as well as to those that are managed externally by our third party investment managers. Our investment activities, like RenaissanceRe’s other business activities, across underwriting and third-party capital management for example, are informed by the industry-leading expertise of our team of scientists, meteorologists, and engineers at RenaissanceRe Risk Sciences Inc. (“RenaissanceRe Risk Sciences”), which monitors, quantifies and forecasts global geophysical risks across our business. The expertise of RenaissanceRe Risk Sciences, coupled with the insights of our risk function, can help support and inform our view of investment risk.
RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. Responsible Investment Policy Integrating ESG Into Our Investment Practices SECTION II - Our Responsible Investment Policy: ESG Integration Introduction Exclusions We integrate ESG factors into our investment process We apply rules-based exclusions to our investment using different approaches, including: portfolio where our analyses and judgment determine there are material downside risks related to ESG. As • Leveraging MSCI’s ESG data to consider the such, our investment guidelines currently provide for potential environmental, social and governance the elimination of direct investments in: impact of our current investments and potential future investments; • Educating our investments team on the impact of • companies that are classified as ‘CCC’ ESG changing ESG conditions (including regulatory Laggards under the MSCI methodology, since these trends) on our investments through internal and are deemed to present additional risk of doing harm external ESG insights; and from an ESG perspective based on their relatively low • Developing our internal approach to ESG reporting independent ESG rating; and analyses • companies that derive more than 10% of revenues from thermal coal; and • corporates that have a relatively high carbon intensity ESG Risk Integration in Investment Decision Making as measured by MSCI, since these are considered As noted above, we believe that it is important that we to be high carbon emitters in terms of the extent of seek to understand and consider material ESG risks environmental harm caused by their activities. when making investment decisions. Our Investment Allocation Committee oversees both our strategic We continue to assess and review our investment asset allocation and the positioning of our investment exclusions and we expect them to evolve over time. portfolio. Among other things, they and the investments team receive regular reports setting out some key Third-Party Manager Selection / Mandate Setting metrics which are indicative of the ESG risk exposure in our investment portfolio. These metrics include, where We embed relevant ESG considerations into available from MSCI: the processes through which we select and oversee third-party investment managers, giving consideration to the robustness of third-party • A breakdown of our investment portfolio holdings by managers’ approaches to managing ESG risk in the overall MSCI ESG rating; the broader context of their ability to deliver on • An ESG rating comparison to benchmark data; RenaissanceRe’s investment objectives. When • Absolute and relative exposure to: we engage a third-party investment manager, we – Sectors which are considered to be of higher ESG generally consider the following topics: risk (including coal, oil & gas, and tobacco); – Sectors which are considered to be of lower ESG risk • ESG Strategy & Oversight (including membership (including renewable and alternative energy); of UN PRI); – ESG labelled investment products (including • ESG Integration & Analysis; Green, Pandemic, Sustainability and Social • ESG Governance & Engagement; Impact bonds); and • Climate Change Risk Oversight (including – Carbon Intensity metrics on the portfolio. reporting against the Task Force on Climate- Related Financial Disclosures, “TCFD”); and These metrics are used to support our investment • Commitment to Diversity, Equity & Inclusion. risk monitoring, including implementation of exclusion policies, identification of higher risk holdings and monitoring of the ESG risk and impact attributes of our investment portfolio. We intend to continue developing the ESG analytics we use to monitor ESG risks in our portfolio.
RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. Responsible Investment Policy Integrating ESG Into Our Investment Practices SECTION II - Our Responsible Investment Policy: ESG Integration For public market third-party investment managers Training that we engage, we set mandates that we believe We continue to further our employees’ knowledge help achieve RenaissanceRe’s desired strategic and understanding of ESG issues, and the relevance asset allocation. These managers have full discretion of such issues to our business and their individual within the scope of the mandates that we set for them, roles. We provide relevant investments personnel meaning that we are not generally involved in day- with training, guidance and ESG-specialist to-day security selection decisions. The mandates resources to support them in developing their include investment guidelines and allocations that understanding of this Policy and the ESG issues incorporate the investment exclusions discussed which it seeks to address. We believe this will help above, and we ensure that the managers have build their confidence and knowledge to discuss access to MSCI data or can otherwise incorporate these issues with internal stakeholders, third-party the exclusions. We also assess the performance of asset managers and broader market stakeholders, these public market third-party investment managers and identify opportunities to further integrate ESG against benchmarks (and their adherence to our considerations into our investment strategy and investment guidelines) to give us confidence that decision-making. ESG factors are given due weight in the decisions our managers take on our behalf. For private market third-party investment managers, who generally do not have the bespoke mandates that public market third-party investment managers have, we consider ESG factors and the types of assets that these managers may invest in during our due diligence process. We also monitor their ESG policies and review related reports (for example annual ESG reports and UN PRI reports). At December 31, 2021, all of our private market managers had implemented a firm-wide ESG policy. In addition to integrating ESG considerations into the appointment of third-party investment managers, following their initial engagement, we continue to oversee and assess ESG factors. For example, we may review their methodologies for the identification and management of ESG risk and their policies and track records with regard to stewardship and engagement. We generally expect our third-party investment managers to complete a periodic questionnaire on ESG matters. We continue to develop our expectations on stewardship and engagement as part of our ESG framework for due diligence, appointment, and evaluation (including remuneration) of our third-party managers.
RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. Responsible Investment Policy Integrating ESG Into Our Investment Practices SECTION III - Governance & Reporting Oversight and Corporate Governance under these principles provides a detailed, industry- We have an integrated approach to ESG governance, specific insight into the management of climate change with cross-collaboration among the RenaissanceRe risks and opportunities. As a signatory to the UN PRI, Board of Directors (the “Board”), its committees and we will also submit additional information relating management. Our Board and its committees are actively to our responsible investment activities within our engaged in the oversight of environmental, social and transparency report on an annual basis. governance initiatives and our management provides regular reports on progress and developments to In addition, many of RenaissanceRe’s policies (available ensure effective oversight. The Board maintains three on our dedicated ESG website) address key ESG-related principal standing committees: the Audit Committee, the topics. These include our: Corporate Governance and Human Capital Management Committee, and the Investment and Risk Management • Code of Ethics & Conduct Committee (the “IRMC”). Oversight of certain ESG matters • Corporate Governance Guidelines is delegated to the standing committees pursuant to their • Code of Vendor Conduct charters, which are available on our website. • Modern Slavery Statement • Equal Opportunities Statement Internal Reporting • Environmental Policy The IRMC assists the Board with oversight of • Human & Labor Rights Policy RenaissanceRe’s investment activities and financial risk management. This includes overseeing our investment Independent Verification strategies, performance and risk management. The IRMC is provided with a quarterly ESG dashboard, As a global insurer, a number of rating agencies which includes information on various ESG metrics that evaluate the effectiveness of our risk management and help them understand the ESG risks and exposure of our governance practices, including our approach to our investment portfolio. environmental and social risks. The rating agencies that rate us on these matters include: The Investment Allocation Committee is comprised of senior members of our executive management • AM Best; team and senior investment team professionals. It is • Standard & Poor’s; responsible for decisions relating to both investment • Moody’s Investors Service; and allocation and third-party investment manager • Fitch. selection and monitoring, including the consideration of impact investing opportunities and regular reviews of For example, the AM Best methodology states that data on ESG-related risks and opportunities. “understanding and integrating ESG principles into External Reporting & ESG Policies strategy is becoming increasingly important for insurers… Insurers play a unique role within ESG as risk carriers, Additional information regarding RenaissanceRe’s ESG 1 risks, opportunities and governance are discussed in asset managers and institutional investors.” AM Best’s detail in our public filings, such as our Annual Report on analysis includes identifying the impact of climate risk Form 10-K and Proxy Statement, and on our dedicated on insurers’ credit ratings, through an in depth review of ESG website. These disclosures include discussions balance sheet strength (including potential liabilities and of environmental and climate change matters, asset risk), operating performance, business profile and Board oversight of ESG, and the assessment of ESG enterprise risk management. Fitch, as part of their credit factors as they relate to our executive compensation ratings assessment, assign ESG scores that determine programs, among other things. RenaissanceRe’s senior how relevant ESG issues are to the overall credit rating. management also prioritize the communication of our Moody’s Investors Service have published their ESG climate change positioning in earnings calls and other methodology which introduces ESG Issuer Profile key stakeholder meetings. (IPS) and Credit Impact Scores (CIS) for rated financial institutions like RenaissanceRe. The scores are part of Through our ClimateWise membership, we also Moody’s commitment to demonstrate the systematic report annually on our actions in response to climate and transparent incorporation of material ESG issues change in a dedicated report, which is aligned with the into credit ratings. Finally, S&P’s ratings framework Task Force for Climate-related Financial Disclosures includes “governance” as a key credit consideration (“TCFD”). RenaissanceRe’s annual TCFD reporting within the broader ratings assessment. 1 Best’s Credit Rating Methodology, November 2020.
RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. Responsible Investment Policy Integrating ESG Into Our Investment Practices SECTION IV - Positive Action Sustainability and Impact RenaissanceRe considers climate change to be an In parallel with the steps taken to further the important and growing influence in our investment sustainability of our investment portfolio, we are process, and we believe that it will ultimately contribute considering the role that investments with specific to our assessment of value, sustainability and return. positive impact objectives may have in our portfolio We recognize that the relevance and materiality of by analyzing the performance, liquidity and real- ESG-related factors such as climate change can vary world outcomes of existing and potential future across asset classes and sectors and are committed investments in: to further developing our understanding of the climate risk in our investment portfolio. Our investments team • sectors such as renewables, forestry and has access to unique insights of our RenaissanceRe infrastructure which improves resilience to climate Risk Sciences team, which could be used to inform change; our consideration of individual impact investing • asset classes such as bonds labelled as impact, opportunities in the future. Members of both the transition, green, sustainable or sustainability-linked RenaissanceRe Risk Sciences and investments and aligned to recognized standards (such as, but teams also make up part of a diverse group of not limited to the Green Bond / Sustainability Bond representatives in RenaissanceRe’s internal, cross- principles as set out by the ICMA, ESMA and the functional Climate Change Working Group, which is Climate Bond Initiative); and responsible for the consideration and co-ordination of • other impact products (for example equity funds) climate change activities across the Company. which align to appropriate recognized standards such as the IFC Operating Principles for Impact Management. Climate Change We embed the first pillar of our ESG strategy, Promoting Climate Resilience, into our corporate strategy through the identification and management 2 www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/climate-change of climate-related issues and opportunities. The steps we have taken to proactively decarbonize our investment portfolio further this strategic ESG objective and are directly aligned with UN Sustainable Development Goal 13 to “take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts”.2 They include: • Reducing the carbon intensity of our corporate credit and equity portfolios by 70% from October 2020 to December 2021 (as measured by MSCI); • Enhancing our investment guidelines to provide for the elimination of direct investments in the areas outlined in Section II;; • Enhancing our reporting of climate risks and opportunities within investments in line with the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures as part of our annual ClimateWise submission; and • Becoming a seed investor in BlackRock’s US Carbon Transition Readiness ETF to steward companies to transition to a low carbon future.
RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. Responsible Investment Policy Integrating ESG Into Our Investment Practices SECTION V - Stakeholder Engagement Whether advancing climate change research and risk first probabilistic Sri Lanka flood model in an open- mitigation efforts or giving back to our communities source format to improve analysis of regional flood through our long-standing corporate social risks, supporting IDF disaster risk financing and responsibility program, we have focused on ESG community resilience projects, and lowering barriers issues because they advance our business goals and to access high-quality hazard and risk information. are the right thing to do. As RenaissanceRe grows, so RenaissanceRe’s involvement in the development does our ability to be a positive force for change, and and execution of such projects aligns closely with two we believe that ESG’s impact and opportunity should core pillars of our ESG strategy: Promoting Climate be recognized throughout the market and shared with Resilience and Closing the Protection Gap. We our key stakeholders. expect to continue to develop public sector partners and dedicate time and resources to developing and Investment Insights supporting innovative products to help mitigate the As we continue to evolve our ESG strategy, we intend impacts of climate change and other ESG related risks. to continue (where practical) to: In doing so, we will consider potential investments in positive impact investment products. • use the knowledge and insights we develop through our investment activities to engage in knowledge- sharing regarding the relationship between ESG risks and financial attributes of investments; • participate in industry and investor forums and contribute to best practice investment guidelines, principles, frameworks, and standards; and • consider the most appropriate industry bodies and forums through which RenaissanceRe can best contribute as an asset owner. Product Innovation and Public Sector Partnerships Throughout our history, RenaissanceRe has been a re/insurance sector leader in helping design public/ private partnerships to deliver proactive solutions that help close the protection gap for some of the world’s largest risks, including climate change-driven natural catastrophes. We have worked with government programs protecting against wind, flood, earthquake and terrorism risk and expect to continue to collaborate with and contribute our expertise to these and other entities. For example, RenaissanceRe plays an active role in the Insurance Development Forum (IDF), which applies insurance capabilities and resources to build resilience and protection for those communities, businesses and institutions most vulnerable to disaster and economic shock. RenaissanceRe’s Chief Risk Officer chairs the IDF’s Risk Modeling Steering Group, with the goal of increasing risk understanding among risk owners globally through the application of open risk modeling principles, technology and standards. We are involved in several projects with the IDF, including funding the development of the
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