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Zurich Insurance Group

Company Context​

Zurich Insurance Group (Zurich) is a Swiss insurer headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland. Zurich serves over 82 million customers across more than 200 countries and territories with approximately 65,000 employees. The company has embedded sustainability into its corporate strategy, with an accelerated target to achieve net-zero operational emissions by 2030, 20 years ahead of its original 2050 goal.

Climate Strategy and Role of CDR​

Zurich frames CDR as critical to bridging the gap between operational emission reductions and net-zero. The company aims for a reduction-first approach: it has set targets to cut operational emissions by 60% by 2025 and 70% by 2029 relative to a 2022 baseline, through measures such as energy efficiency, fleet electrification, reduced business travel, and renewable electricity. In this context, credit purchases are then intended to address the residual emissions that cannot be eliminated.

To fund this transition, Zurich introduced an internal carbon price on its operational emissions in 2021, which funds a carbon fund that supports both emissions-reduction initiatives and carbon removal procurement. Zurich has been an active buyer in carbon removal markets since 2022, aiming to secure enough removal capacity to match its residual operational emissions from 2030 onwards. Critically, Zurich's credit portfolio combines nature-based and technology-based removal methods to diversify risk and support a broad range of solutions.

Most of its contracts are structured as pre-purchase agreements, where Zurich commits upfront capital to early-stage suppliers and releases further payments as projects hit pre-agreed milestones, effectively acting as both a buyer and an enabler of market growth.

What they have bought​

Zurich's CDR portfolio spans a wide range of methods and geographies. Regarding nature-based solutions, it has contracted biochar (from forestry waste, bamboo, paper mill residues, and micro-algae feedstocks), biomass burial, agroforestry, mangrove restoration, and enhanced rock weathering. On the technology side, Zurich has partnered with Climeworks for direct air capture and storage and, in early 2026, signed a pre-purchase agreement with Parallel Carbon for 1,200 tonnes of CDR via an integrated DAC and green hydrogen process. Its largest single deal to date is a 17,500-tonne biochar agreement with Nellie Technologies over five years, which placed Zurich among the top 20 corporate CDR purchasers (see company page on CDR.fyi).

Zurich sources carbon removal certificates through registries, including Puro.earth, Plan Vivo, and Verra, and requires projects outside these standards to demonstrate strong scientific credentials. Zurich's portfolio has evolved over time, beginning with nature-based solutions and progressively expanding into technology-based removal methods such as DAC and enhanced rock weathering.

What we can learn from their approach​

  • Portfolio diversification as risk management: Zurich spreads its purchases across multiple CDR methods, geographies, and maturity stages, applying an insurer's risk-management mindset to carbon removal procurement
  • Internal carbon pricing as a funding mechanism: Zurich's internal carbon price on operational emissions creates a dedicated revenue stream for both emissions reduction and CDR procurement, a model comparable to those adopted by other corporate buyers
  • Rigorous due diligence: Zurich conducts extensive pre-agreement evaluation and ongoing monitoring, applying criteria around additionality, no-harm, scientific robustness, and alignment with broader sustainability goals such as flood resilience and biodiversity
  • Transparency: Zurich publicly discloses its carbon removal projects, partners, and approach on its corporate website, and its purchases are tracked on the CDR.fyi Leaderboard

Profile published on 2 April 2026, based on publicly available information.