Ping An Releases 2023 Sustainability Report

Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Ltd. has published the “Ping An Sustainability Report 2023: Together With Hope” (hereafter “the Report”). The Report highlights the Group’s innovation and practices in sustainable development in 2023 in five areas, including sustainable development and strategy management, sustainable business, sustainable operations and community, sustainable governance and Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) report. This is the 15^th consecutive year Ping An has released a sustainability report.

Sustainable development is one of Ping An’s development strategies and the basis for maximizing the Group’s long-term value. Ping An continues to focus on addressing customer needs, developing the “integrated finance + healthcare and elderlycare” strategy, improving corporate governance and risk management and control mechanisms, pursuing green and low-carbon development, and contributing to China’s “dual-carbon” goals – to reach peak carbon emissions by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060. The Group is committed to creating robust and sustainable long-term value for customers, employees, shareholders and society.

5 highlights of Ping An’s sustainable development in 2023

1. Marking 12 consecutive years of cash dividend increases and introducing performance metrics that link sustainability performance to senior management pay. Ping An continuously adopts the world’s best corporate governance practices, aiming to set an example in corporate governance and provide stable returns to shareholders. In 2023, the Group distributed full-year cash dividend RMB2.43 per share, up 0.4% year-on-year, with the total dividend increasing for 12 consecutive years. Since 2012, the cumulative total dividend surpassed RMB300 billion. To drive comprehensive internal ESG management, Ping An includes compliant operation indicators, risk management indicators, economic efficiency indicators, and social responsibility indicators in its performance appraisal mechanism. Among all, the key performance indicators of sustainable development issues such as rural revitalization and green finance have been incorporated into the Group’s senior management pay linked to sustainability.
   
   
2. Facilitated green development and increased green insurance premium income by 49% year-on-year. Ping An is committed to supporting economic development, social progress and environmental improvement with comprehensive and professional risk protection. As of the end of December 2023, Ping An’s total sustainable insurance premium income reached RMB 557.725 billion, up 2% compared to the end of 2022. In particular, green insurance premium income amounted to RMB37,296 million, up 49% year-on-year. The scale of Ping An’s responsible banking business was approximately RMB1.21 trillion and the compound annual growth rate in the last three years reached 35%. In particular, the green loan balance reached RMB146,345 million, representing a year-on-year growth of nearly 26%.
   
   
3. Continued to serve society, improving accessibility and inclusivity of financial services. Ping An leverages its integrated finance advantages, proactively expanding its rural network channels and is dedicated to delivering financial services to residents in rural and county regions. As of the end of December 2023, Ping An Group operated 59,303 financial service reach of points across the country. Ping An Property & Casualty (P&C) provided over 2.29 million small and micro enterprises with comprehensive risk protection totaling more than RMB 200 trillion and processed more than 1.68 million claims worth more than RMB 3.2 billion. The scale of Ping An’s inclusive banking business reached RMB718.7 billion, offering loan services to more than 1.03 million small and micro-businesses.
   
   
4. Delivered on responsible investment strategy and fully incorporated ESG factors into investment decisions. The Group has fully integrated ESG factors into the entire investment decision-making process for its insurance funds. As of December 31, 2023, the total amount of responsible investment of insurance funds reached RMB725.3 billion. More than 83% of the assets in the Group’s insurance fund investment portfolio were managed by asset managers that are UN PRI signatories. Among them, green investment reached RMB128.6 billion, a 19% increase compared to the same period last year.
   
   
5. Maintained commitment to green operations, with 14% year-on-year reduction in carbon emissions. In 2023, Ping An launched China’s first carbon account system in the insurance industry, which covers all employees. The system tracks and records each employee’s low-carbon behaviors at work and in daily life, and individual carbon emissions. This system allows for the comprehensive assessment and management of carbon emissions. As of the end of December 2023, Ping An’s employee carbon account system included a total of 494,500 carbon reduction actions and achieved a reduction in carbon emissions of close to 18,000 tons. In 2023, Ping An’s total greenhouse gas emissions in its operation was more than 420,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalents (tCO₂e), a decrease of nearly 14% year-on-year; per capita emissions were 1.35 tCO₂e, a 5.6% decrease year-on-year.

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