Zurich’s Head of Sustainability Linda Freiner on biodiversity, handing reporting to the CFO, and being a “spider in the net”

Linda Freiner, Head of Sustainability at insurance colossus Zurich, spins many plates. Wrangling spreadsheets on the company’s emissions reduction progress is not among them: “[Reporting] was something that we decided to transition into the finance function a few years ago. They have the controls and the expertise and the skills to take care of this ever-changing landscape” she tells CSO Futures on a call. 

This was a decision made back in 2019, and a prescient one: “I had a conversation with our CFO and said ‘the landscape has changed’ she explains: “We're really happy that we did that, especially with all the regulation that is coming, because you need to have the system, you need to have the controls, you need to have an edge. [Regulators are trying to] bring up non-financial reporting to the same quality standards as financial reporting. [Finance is] absolutely the right place for it to be.”