As part of its legal mandate, the insurance company Gebäudeversicherung Bern (GVB) insures all buildings in the canton of Bern against fire and natural hazards. Since 2008, it has reduced its operational carbon emissions per employee by more than 50% to 1.2 tonnes and has been climate neutral since 2013.

Since 2008, Swiss Climate has been working with GVB to calculate its carbon footprint in accordance with international standards (ISO 14064 and Greenhouse Gas Protocol). Swiss Climate has also helped GVB to formulate its climate strategy and climate targets. It did so for the first time in 2014 and most recently in 2021. The first climate target was a 30% reduction in CO2/FTE (including external contractors) by 2020 compared to 2015. GVB far exceeded this target with a reduction of 70%. The new target is to reduce carbon emissions per employee from 1.2 tonnes (2019) to 0.3 tonnes by 2050.

A new climate target

The ‘Climate Strategy 2020+’ developed together with Swiss Climate not only includes targets for emissions caused by operations but also ones for the capital investments and property portfolio of GVB. GVB’s property portfolio comprises over 100 buildings, which are to be switched to non-fossil fuels by 2035. Based on an initial overview of the entire portfolio, GVB defined a decarbonisation roadmap for each building. The company wants to attach greater importance to climate issues when deciding on capital investments. On the basis of the footprint of the existing portfolio, exit strategies for non-climate-neutral investments are formulated and gradually implemented.

Swiss Climate provided the following services on this project:

• CO₂ management
• Carbon offsetting