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2024 marks the fourth year CSAA Insurance Group has issued an Environmental, Social and Governance Report — and the first year we're calling it Our Impact. We've made this change because we believe it better reflects the work we're doing, uniting it under the overarching lens of the collective impact we're making in these spaces.
We recognize that addressing one audience or one area in isolation may not lead to the outcomes we want. That’s why we’re adopting a Total Social Impact lens—assessing the total benefit our products, services, operations, core capabilities and activities bring to society and in particular to diverse and marginalized communities. Our focus has expanded, our ambitions have strengthened, and our activities to support our planet (environmental), our people (social) and our practice (governance) have become more integrated, urgent and effective.
We engage in partnerships to enable this work because we know that partnering for change makes change far more likely to occur. That was the idea behind the global Climate Resiliency Challenge we launched in 2023 with design firm IDEO and professional services firm Aon, among others. Through this Challenge, we sought solutions to help frontline communities prevent, prepare for and recover from climate-related disasters, such as wildfires, floods and extreme weather. In this report, you’ll find case studies celebrating some of the Challenge winners and how their big ideas have leaned into innovation to support their communities.
Similarly, CSAA’s partnership with Blue Forest Asset Management to create the California Wildfire Innovation Fund, in which CSAA committed to invest $25M, will help protect the environment, our customers and communities. Part of our investment has been committed to impactful projects that are helping reduce wildfire risk, and thereby greenhouse gas emissions, while providing job opportunities in rural communities.
This past year we’re also proud to have accomplished a great milestone: representation of women at the supervisor, manager and executive ranks (combined) achieved parity with the U.S. labor force. And to continue tackling organizational needs concerning inclusion and belonging, we introduced systems thinking to CSAA culture. At its core, systems thinking involves understanding how different elements within a system interact with one another and how changes in one area can impact other areas.
This strategy requires employees at all levels of the organization to engage to actualize our purpose, which is why 45% of CSAA employees participated in volunteer opportunities in 2023 versus 37% in 2022, with close to 400 more employees spending their time serving our communities. Our employees also supported causes more through donations in 2023, with 32% donating out of pocket or volunteer rewards to causes they’re passionate about, compared to 21% in 2022.
And as an insurer, the Planet aspect of our work is imperative, given the role we play in helping policyholders who experience losses due to climate-related changes. We had a goal of a 50% reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2025 (Scopes 1, 2 and 3, inclusive of business travel, employee commute, work-from-home energy, and paper use)—and I’m excited to report that we’ve met that goal ahead of plan. That said, 2023 brought new challenges, as the insurance industry as a whole saw more climate-related disasters. This not only hurt the bottom line but made it all the more critical that we move quickly on climate action.
We believe that our impact strategy facilitates an empowered workforce and trust in our company, all of which are integral parts to the sustainable growth and profitability of our organization. This year, and every year, we commit to assessing our programs and policies through the lens of community impact, and when necessary, creating changes to deepen our impact as a corporate citizen.
Michael J. Zukerman
Interim President and CEO
CSAA Insurance Group