Organization: Chubb Corporation

Year: 2015

Description: WHEREAS:  Managing and reporting environmental, social and governance (ESG) business practices helps companies compete in a global business environment characterized by finite natural resources, changing legislation, and heightened public expectations for corporate accountability. 
 
Reporting helps companies better integrate and gain strategic value from existing sustainability efforts, identify gaps and opportunities, develop company-wide communications, recruit and retain employees, and receive feedback. 
 
Without proper disclosure, stakeholders and analysts cannot ascertain whether the company is effectively managing its ESG exposure. 
 
RESOLVED:  Shareholders request that Chubb issue an annual sustainability report describing the company’s short- and long-term responses to ESG-related issues. The report should include objective quantitative indicators and goals relating to each issue where feasible, be prepared at a reasonable cost, omit proprietary information, and be made available to shareholders by December 31, 2015.
 
SUPPORTING STATEMENT:  Support for sustainability reporting continues to strengthen, as does the evidence for a link between sustainability and value creation:

•  According to an analysis completed in June, 2014 by the Governance & Accountability Institute, 72% of the companies included in The S&P 500 Index® were found to have published a sustainability or corporate responsibility report.
• The Principles for Responsible Investment has more than 1,200 signatories with over $45 trillion of assets under management.  These members publicly commit to seek ESG information from companies to be able to analyze fully the risks and opportunities associated with existing and potential investments.
• The link between strong sustainability management and value creation is increasingly evident. A 2012 Deutsche Bank review of academic studies found 89% of studies demonstrated that companies with high ESG ratings also show market-based outperformance, and 85% of the studies indicated that these companies experienced accounting-based outperformance. 

We recommend Chubb consider using the Global Reporting Initiative's (GRI) Sustainability Reporting Guidelines (or a similarly systematic, flexible approach) for preparing the report.  The Governance & Accountability Institute found that companies who use the GRI framework experience positive associations with inclusion in sustainability-focused stock indices, higher CDP and Bloomberg ESG Disclosure scores, and more favorable third-party disclosure transparency ratings.  The GRI is the most widely used standard for sustainability reporting.  A GRI report can be published on the internet to reduce the costs associated with a paper report.  
 
Chubb does provide some information related to ESG issues on its website, but this reporting falls far short of a true, comprehensive sustainability report.  Chubb has not produced a GRI-based sustainability report since 2008.  
 
The Hartford, Ace and Allstate all offer shareholders important information through comprehensive sustainability reports.   By not reporting, Chubb may be missing opportunities that peers are actively recognizing and lagging its peer group in terms of risk management. Climate change risks are of particular concern, given these risks are financially significant environmental issues currently facing Chubb’s investors and customers.
 
Without comprehensive disclosure, shareholders, investors and analysts cannot ascertain whether Chubb is properly managing ESG issues and our company’s impact on society.