In July 2002 the Euresa member companies adopted a joint declaration entitled “We are committed by our values”, demonstrating through concrete examples their desire to apply these values to all aspects of their work and, more generally, to act as good economic citizens, supporting sustainable and socially responsible development and balancing economic equilibrium with respect for ethical behaviour.

This loyalty to their values has not diminished over the years. Since 2002 the member companies have continued this commitment, both individually and collectively through a special working group in Euresa EEIG, where they have undertaken joint reflection about sustainable development.

The Presidents of the Euresa member companies have undertaken, through the signature of a joint declaration, a dynamic process that seeks to identify and specify the social, environmental and civic issues that arise in connection with the work of an insurance company, and to identity the potential instruments for action that will progressively and increasingly integrate these issues into the very heart of their insurance profession. In this way, Euresa’s member groups are providing first responses, both in the design of insurance products and services as well as in the conduct of professional activities, in an effort to express and to combine the objectives of social equity, respect for the environment and financial and economic success, at all levels of their activities:  

• In local contacts with their users,
• In shared responsibility with their policyholders and other partners,
• In solidarity vis-à-vis their policyholders,
• By protecting people as well as property,
• In collaboration with the employees of their companies.

They have prepared a panorama of the initiatives undertaken by each of them to provide a first response to these issues, with the double objective of learning from the experiences of each other and progressing together by developing new responses to their social and environmental responsibilities and their commitment to good citizenship.

As there is no single and uniform response to the challenges of sustainable development, they would like to share the fruit of their research and accomplishments through this publication in order to make their contribution to this challenge by presenting their own vision, as Social Economy insurance companies, regarding the issues of sustainable development.  They are well aware that many others, from all sectors, are also working in the same direction and that much remains to be done together.

Therefore, the member companies of Euresa see these activities not as a culmination but rather as a new stage in the commitments that they made in 2002 and as a road map for the coming years.