[Foreign language]
ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, good morning and welcome. I'm very happy to welcome you here to this new SCOR general shareholders meeting that I'm presiding over for the first time. Before officially opening this session, I would like just to pause a moment and think of my emblematic predecessor, Denis Kessler, who was at my place as chairman of SCOR for more than 20 years, who shaped the history of the group and its success, and who propelled it amongst the top worldwide reinsurers. I think that I speak on behalf of everybody to say that we are extremely grateful to him, and I would like to warmly remember his legacy of thoroughness and excellency, that we are doing the best we can to preserve.
During this first year as chairman of the board, I have been able to measure the importance of this job even more so than before. It is very complex by its nature, but it is vital to the resilience of any companies. I'm very proud today to be at the head of a dynamic group with a solid foundation, which is fully showing its essential role as a manager of risk. Shareholders, today, we are here for a privileged moment, our shareholders' general meeting. I would like to thank you for your presence and for many of you who've been present for years. You have always been a precious support for group. This general assembly is a highlight of the year, when you will be able to speak with the members of management and the members of the board.
Next to me, I have Thierry Léger, who is the CEO of SCOR for a little over a year now. He will tell you about the strategic perspectives, the strategic forecasts of the group, and I also have Claire Le Gall-Robinson, who is the general secretary of the group. I also have the great pleasure of having, in the very first row here, the members of the board, who will be talking to you about the work they have done. I would like to seize this opportunity to turn to them and to give them my warm thanks for the very active way in which they help in the functioning and the development of SCOR. They are essential players for the debates that we have. They support me, and it means that our group is more efficient and has an excellent governance.
So without any further ado, let's move on now to the opening formalities. As the chairman of this general assembly, I would like to officially declare this session open. We will now form the bureau, the two shareholders present, who have the greatest number of votes and who have accepted to be tellers. I would like to thank them. Covéa, represented by Mr. Thibault Boudet, and Amber Capital, represented by Monsieur Olivier Fortesa. I would like to suggest to the tellers that we suggest as secretary of the assembly, Mrs. Claire Le Gall-Robinson. This debate is being recorded, and I would also like to say that among those who are not shareholders here, some journalists today, for example, that this is a public meeting.
I would also like to tell you that we have a bailiff that has been hired today by the company. We would like to thank you all for being here in such great numbers, and it is good that we are here in this auditorium. There is not enough room in the auditorium, so there's also a possibility to listen to proceedings in another room. Today, we have 71.34% of shareholders are represented or present. 128,000,767 shares from 280 shareholders. We will inform you of the final quorum before the voting on the resolution. We will be dealing with resolutions, the ordinary resolutions, first of all, 1 to 18, and then the extraordinary resolutions from 19 to 33.
For the ordinary part of the meeting, 1/5 of the shares have a right to vote, and for the extraordinary ones, 1/4 of the shares have a right to vote. The rules of adopting of the resolutions for the ordinary part of the resolutions is that they'll be voted on by a simple majority, and for the extraordinary resolutions, 2/3 of the shareholders present or represented will suffice. The shareholders present or represented, of course, represent more than 1/4 of this, so our assembly can deliberate on the ordinary resolutions and the extraordinary resolutions. So I declare this general assembly, therefore, fit to vote. The shareholders have received the invitation to today, the combined general meeting brochure. Thank you very much.
We'd like to inform you that all of the documents, as stipulated by the law, are available here in the... on the table. You have the combined general meetings brochure. You have the invitation, where you may also find the resolutions, ordinary and extraordinary resolutions. You have the Universal Registration Document, where there are the consolidated and the ordinary accounts of the company, as well as the group's activity report. The reports and the certifications of the statutory auditors, and other documents, so that... have been, have also been made available to the shareholders in accordance with articles in the Code of Commerce.
[Foreign language]
Perhaps before Thierry Léger gets back in the detail to the strategic, for, perspectives for the group, I would like to tell you a little bit about my, vision for SCOR and, where we are at the end of my first year of, chairman of the board.
[Foreign language]
Resilience for us is the incarnation of the reinsurance sector, and it is at the very heart of risk management. This risk universe, as such as we see it today, is continually changing and continually expanding. This is something that we are seeing on a day-to-day basis. We're seeing that the risks are multiplying, and they are intensifying. There are geopolitical tensions, but also climate change, cyber risks, or the aging of the population. All of these are very complex challenges for today's contemporary companies. In this environment, which is prey to structural changes, but which still benefits today from favorable market conditions, I think that SCOR's raison d'être is more and more topical today, and that is my conviction, and I reaffirm that conviction after one year as chairman of the board of the sixth largest worldwide reinsurer. SCOR plays a role in our society.
We know how to manage our know-how of risk management, risk control. We are always making sure that we are capable of absorbing risks, and that is at the very heart of what we do. We have to be able to combine the art and the science of risk so that we can deploy the potential of value creation for all of our stakeholders, while protecting companies and enlarging the extent of cover of insurance. Faced with our challenges, I think that SCOR can count on a stable and strong governance. This is very clear. We have a governance that works well.
Well, the proof of that is that, the replacement of the chairman of the board in June 2023, after the passing of Denis Kessler, and then the building of a new strategic plan between the board and general management, although Thierry Léger and myself had only just taken up our new functions just a few months prior. This phase of changing governance is now behind us. We have very serenely launched into a new chapter of SCOR's history. Governance, dissociated governance, is now aiming at achieving the strategic ambitions of the group and its performance. The working relations between Thierry and myself are, if I might say so myself, excellent, and I think that the board can bear witness to that, and it's largely thanks to the mutual trust between us.
We are regularly exchanging information, and we work in full transparency. Each of us works within our own perimeters. We are both trying to align ourselves strategically, and the way in which we function hopefully will bring about a healthy and prudent management of the group. This governance is applied with great rigor, but it is also thanks to the board members who are so involved in debates and who give over a large amount of their energy to the carrying out of their mandates. I would like to warmly thank all of the chairs of the committees that I count on so much, who have a considerable amount of work to do, and therefore who are bearing, de facto, very large responsibility. Thank you to you all.
SCOR's new strategic plan, Forward 2026, is a plan that is clear, it is simple, it is easily understandable, and it is the result of the combined efforts of, the board and general management. It has been warmly welcomed by the market, and it should be able to increase our value creation in the future. We want to enhance SCOR's resilience and guarantee that SCOR attains good performance up until the end of 2026. There are also two objectives that are highlighted in this plan. A financial objective with a growth of economic value expected at 9% per year, with a return on equity greater than 12%.
And the second point is also fundamental for an activity such as ours, and that is to reach a solvency ratio , which will hover somewhere between 185% and 220%. We consider that to be the optimum range. Forward 2026 is also composed of key fundamentals that will allow us to achieve it. First of all, diversification, a key word for us. Diversification is our strength. This diversification will enable us to mutualize risks worldwide, and it's a very important lever for our activity. Our intention is to continue this, the diversification of our risk portfolio without undermining the global balance of our reinsurance activities, be it in life reinsurance or property or liability. Mastering risk is the next strong prerogative.
As a reinsurance group, one that is independent and worldwide, SCOR has a very large, very good quality range throughout the world. The expertise and the know-how of the group are one of our great levers. Our employees incarnate this approach of excellence, trying to bring us services and offer services that are of extremely high quality. We play a society role as a risk regulator. The major risks and catastrophes today are the raw material of our business, and there again, we fully master the art and the science. Let me talk about now about something that is important, and that is, granting value, valorizing data. During the strategic plan, SCOR is going to strengthen its global leadership to become a risk manager, a capital manager, a dynamic resource manager, fully focused on data.
Data is the name of the game in our business. We must be able to improve the way we use data so that we can better carry out capital allocation and achieve a better performance. And last but not least, SCOR is also putting sustainable development at the heart of its strategy. For more than 20 years, Augustin, we have been involved in the anti-climate change issues, as well as sustainable development. What we are doing with our policies today are also guided by a lot of different initiatives and international standards, and the factoring in of social, environmental, and governance elements that are at stake. It's that as an integral part of our governance system under the supervision of the board, and with the contribution of specialized committees, we are rolling out strategic plans and action plans concerning ESG.
We'll come back and talk about that in just a moment. The environmental and social commitment of SCOR is also visible by the very strong support that it brings to science, to innovation, to teaching, and to research of new risks. The group is doing the best it can to share know-how on the main risks that are threatening the world. SCOR is financing scientific projects, either directly, thanks to the Science Foundation , or indirectly, by investing permanently in the understanding and the modeling of risks. I'll let Thierry Léger come back in more detail over the main ideas in our strategic plan, but... I will now move on to something that I think is going to completely concern you, and that is the performance that our group has achieved.
So very quickly, the favorable perspectives, the favorable forecasts of our strategic plan have already come to light in 2023. Of course, we've been able to coast on the favorable market conditions. You can see that SCOR has a net results of EUR 812 million in 2023. This shows that we truly occupy a strategic position. Solidity and resilience of our balance sheet can also be illustrated by, as you can see here, by a solvency ratio of 215%, and we will be able to base ourselves on that to enhance our resilience. So we are performant, and we are resilient.
This performance allows us to believe in the future, allows us to put before this general assembly to ask for your approval of a dividend of EUR 1.80 per share for 2023, and that will be one of the resolutions that you will be voting on later this morning. We also have introduced a new capital management policy, which I hope is going to be more attractive for you, shareholders. It is one that gives pride of place to the cash share payouts.
It, there may also be special dividends or share buybacks, but once we have taken into account our solvency ratio , once we have analyzed our economic performance, looking at the company's economic value , we will be defining the dividends of future years with one thing that I believe is fundamental, and that is that next year's dividend will be at least equal to this year's. That is EUR 1.80, subject, of course, to the approval of each general assembly. This, I think, is something that is new, and it confirms the way in which the board and SCOR's management believes that the resilience of the company will continue. By way of conclusion, conditions today are such that SCOR can roll out its strategic plan, Forward 2026. Market forecasts are very favorable.
We are in a dynamic environmental opportunistic market for SCOR. We have very solid fundamentals at SCOR. Our portfolio is well diversified, which is a great advantage that we're going to continue to capitalize on, intending to maintain a portfolio that is balanced, not just in line of business, but also geographically. And lastly, our governance, as you can see, is doing well. The committees are working hard. The management teams have a strong leader in front of them with all of the qualities and the necessary skills to help us achieve our ambitions. This makes me particularly convinced that in SCOR's future, and convinced that we will be able to deliver a performance until the end of 2026. And I'd now like to give the floor to Thierry Léger. Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen.
Merci. Thank you, Fabrice. Very good morning to you all, dear shareholders. I'm very pleased to be with you at this shareholders' meeting, one year after taking my duties as CEO of SCOR. I'm going to, this morning, present in detail the performance of our company in 2023, and provide you with an update on the major transformation initiatives that we have undertaken, and we will continue in 2024. I'd like to begin by expressing my pride at being at the head of such a fine company. Over the past year, I've reached out and met with all those who, every day, devote their expertise and professionalism to the service of SCOR's success.
Wherever I went, I was struck by the energy and the commitment of our people, and their wish to contribute to the achievement of our objectives, and I'd like to take this opportunity of thanking them warmly here. This first year was also, for me, an opportunity to deepen the relationship with our clients and to listen to what they have to say. Our numerous exchanges confirm my initial perception that I shared with you last year. SCOR benefits from a leading franchise recognized by our clients worldwide. Thanks to the relations of confidence built over time, this partnership approach is close to my heart. It is really the focus of my vision for SCOR that I'll develop in a moment.
I'd like to return to the group's performance in 2023 by highlighting the points that make us fully confident in our ability to achieve the objectives of our new strategic plan, Forward 2026. Now, last year, in 2023, as Fabrice said, we achieved a net record profit of EUR 812 million, driven by each of our businesses, P&C, life and health, and investment. This return to profitability after a year, 2022, that was particularly challenging, shows that the actions aimed at rebalancing our risk portfolio are bearing fruit, and illustrates the relevance of our business model based on the balance between the activities, the business lines, and geographies. In P&C reinsurance, our combined ratio that measures the ratio between the amount of compensation for claims paid out and the amount of earned premium stands at 85%.
This demonstrates the improved underlying profitability of our P&C business. In life and health reinsurance, the result of insurance activity reached EUR 589 million above the assumption that we'd set ourselves. Lastly, investment continued to generate favorable result with a yield of 3.2%. This very strong performance led to an excellent return on equity of 18.1%, significantly higher than the target of 12% that we set for 2023, and also higher than previous years. In 2023, we exceeded our financial target of value creation measured through the economic value of the group, which corresponds to the value of the SCOR franchise and its portfolio. That to say, the sum of shareholders' equity and expected future profits.
Thus, in 2023, the economic value of SCOR increased by 8.6%, reaching EUR 9.2 billion, against a growth target that we set ourselves at 8.1%. Now, this increase is all the more remarkable because it's driven by a strong increase in shareholders' equity of some 21%. A word on the growth of our premiums. Over a period of 10 years, as you can see on this chart, the total amount of gross written premiums doubled, going from EUR 10 billion to close on EUR 20 billion in 2023. This sustained growth is driven both by our P&C business, as well as by our life and health business. The chart also illustrates the strategic revamping of our non-life portfolio undertaken during the renewals of January 2023.
The balance sheet front, the solvency ratio in 2023 reached 209%. Once again, the higher of the optimum range, between 185%-220%. Our solvency level confirms the strength of our balance sheet, and therefore, our ability to absorb all types of shocks. This result was obtained in spite of the earthquakes that struck Turkey, hailstorms in Italy, hailstones of some 19 centimeters, so that truly is an event beyond our expectation. Fires in Hawaii and the Otis hurricane in the United States. Thus, we guarantee financial strength to our clients.
After a period marked, as we recall, by a low contribution of the technical result from underwriting, as you can see in the chart, against a backdrop of major catastrophic events and the repercussions of COVID-19, we're seeing in 2023 a significant shift. The two fundamental pillars of the group, technical and financial, are once again delivering the operational and financial performance for the group. In 2023, our performance, technical performance, reached new records. The levels are also higher than those before 2016. In terms of financial investment, we've crossed a major milestone. The contribution of financial investments to our recurring earnings are now higher and more regular. We continue to benefit from high reinvestment rates. This combined momentum of technical and financial results that are robust is set to continue in the future.
As was mentioned last September, we unveiled our ambitious strategic plan Forward 2026, that runs from 2024 through 2026. This plan is a roadmap that is there to leverage a buoyant environment and to mobilize our distinctive assets to achieve an annual increase of the economic value of 9% a year. In parallel, we're gonna adjust the group's business model to prepare the future. SCOR will transform to adapt to a risk landscape that is constantly changing by becoming a risk manager, as well as managing capital and resources that are more dynamic, flexible, and data-driven, ready to take up the challenges of tomorrow. We seek to allocate our capital dynamically and strategically at the same time, in order to capture, on the one hand, the commercial opportunities that arise, whilst improving our diversification.
We're currently in a virtuous phase, allowing us not only to extend our diversification, but also to increase our profitability. At last year's shareholders meeting, I stressed the fact that we'd entered a phase that was very favorable to reinsurers. The current environment is the most attractive of the last 20 years, and this positive phase is continuing, as Fabrice set out earlier. In property and casualty, demand exceeded supply at the end of 2022. The hard market, marked by pricing increases and improved terms and conditions, is continuing, as demonstrated by pricing changes during the last renewals shown on the chart, top left, and these are market data. Against this backdrop, a better balance between supply and demand was seen in 2024.
Indeed, thanks to a marked improvement on return on equity, traditional reinsurers, such as SCOR, have invested more capital to meet demand. On the asset side, rising interest rates and consequently, reinvestment rates, has significantly increased the financial contribution of investment to reinsurers and to SCOR. So the environment is promising for opportunities to create value, but also requires an adjustment of products and heightened resilience on the part of reinsurers. For SCOR, this favorable environment was clear during the renewals of January and April this year, with growth in our property and casualty business on our target lines. In keeping with the Forward 2026 plan, we delivered strong growth in engineering, in marine, in inherent defects liability, and casualty internationally. By diversifying our portfolio and by constantly seeking improved technical profitability, we also accelerated our development of alternative solutions by leveraging the strong demand for bespoke solutions.
At the beginning of this year, we've already doubled our premium income in this field. I'm very satisfied to see that SCOR continues to improve the quality and technical profitability of its non-life book. A year after the 2023 renewals that already took place in a very promising context, SCOR continues to maintain disciplined underwriting, both in terms of pricing as well as terms and conditions. During the Q1 of 2024, which is also the Q1 of our strategic plan, Forward 2026, SCOR is generating strong net profit of EUR 196 million. These results lead to an excellent return on annualized equity, reaching 17.3% over the quarter. Our strong performance in Q1 is driven by our P&C business as well as investment, whereas our life and health business is experiencing measure of volatility.
These good results achieved in Q1 have allowed us to constitute margins of prudence in our provisions. We've generated significant amount of capital in the Q1 , thanks to the profitability of our non-life books. This led to an increase in the solvency ratio of six points, coming in at 215%, as well as an increase of 4.1% of the group's economic value. This really is a very good start to the year 2024. Against this promising backdrop, sustained by the demand from cedents and market discipline, SCOR expects a continued favorable backdrop for the renewals of July as well as in June, and we're taking advantage of this strong position to transform SCOR and to turn it into a more dynamic and more adaptable group at every level.
That's the purpose of the cultural transformation of the group that we've set in hand. The first transformation initiative concerns the revamping of corporate values. There's nothing cosmetic to that. It's key to my mind. These values are a compass to guide our decisions and the actions of each and everyone at every level of the organization. Our values stem from a consultation with all our people. Care, which in French could be translated by... It could, even if it goes beyond that, integrity, courage, open minds, and collaboration. I attach great importance in ensuring that these values are embodied in our individual and collective behavior. They now count for 50% of employees' bonus as of 2024. Let's take a look at this film that we've prepared to present our new values.
SCOR is embarking on a new journey, driven by our employees and the values we have chosen, we embody, and we will carry into the future. From the very first step, we care about clients, people, and societies, guiding them through the twists and turns of evolving trends and future risks. As we advance towards this uncertain future, we are steadfast, we uphold our promises, and we perform with integrity. Empowering each other to take the road less traveled, we act with courage and rise to unexpected challenges along the way. We encourage open minds and diversity of thought, background, culture, and experience to blaze a trail as the reinsurer of tomorrow. We take each step as individuals, but move forward as a team, thriving through collaboration. As we approach new horizons, we forge ahead with care, integrity, courage, open minds, collaboration, the SCOR way!
I'd like to take this opportunity to thank our communications teams, who I find always prepare absolutely wonderful videos. So second initiative that we've begun earlier this year, it's adapting our organization in order to make it simpler and more efficient. We've scrapped intermediate management echelons to accelerate decision-making and bring it closer to the front line. We put an end to the matrix-based organization that diluted responsibility to give greater clarity and enhance the empowerment of our people. We put in place more horizontal organization that enhances expertise, collaboration, and innovation. And lastly, we've brought closer the whole organization to our clients to be ever more responsive in order to respond to their needs and sustain profitable growth. I'll end with a third transformation project that we announced last April to our employees.
It concerns our new compensation and career management policy. In each of these areas, we're currently putting in place a fair and transparent framework, reflecting the organization as I wish to see it transformed. This new framework has been developed to ensure that each employee of SCOR is an actor of their own career and offering all equal opportunities. This change will allow us to attract new talents and make SCOR an employer of choice even more attractive. I have the firm belief that the cultural and organizational transformation of SCOR undertaken these past few months is a key success factor for our strategy and will derive many benefits from it in the years to come. I'd now like to return to our sustainable development commitments. Fabrice recalled in his introduction that SCOR is a committed player of the energy transition, as well as the environment.
For over 20 years now, the SCOR strategy is focused around three complementary areas that we outlined last year. The first is the set targets for the reduction of greenhouse gas reductions in our underwriting investment portfolios, as well as for group's operation. The second rests on interaction with our clients and businesses in which we invest, to make them fully aware of climate change risks and to support them in their transition. Lastly, the third focus area is a steadfast support to the transition to a sustainable economy that protects the environment. These three pillars, reduction, dialogue, and support to transition, form the bedrock of our strategy, and Augustin de Romanet will return to that in greater detail later. Today, I can announce that SCOR has set its first interim target at 2030, pertaining direct insurance portfolios as well as P&C facultative reinsurance.
The scope of the portfolio encompasses European companies based on PCAF, the Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials. With this interim target, SCOR seeks to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 23% by 2030, as compared to the end of 2022. Once again, demonstrating our resolve to contribute actively to the fight against climate change by setting targets that are aligned with the trajectory of 1.5 degrees, that is science-based. To ensure consistency between our ambition and action, the board has decided to put in place an executive compensation policy that is ambitious and as an incentive with a decarbonization target linked to underwriting. It's a totally novel measure. Of course, alone, we won't be able to reach these goals. The work of public authorities and the efforts of all players in the real economy will also be decisive.
I'd like to end this presentation by sharing with you my vision of the role that SCOR must play to address the challenges which our societies are facing. We're all experiencing a world that is increasingly uncertain, unpredictable, that is transforming at an ever faster pace. Of course, I'm thinking of climate change, and we're all seeing the effects of that. Also, the expanding cyber risk, as well as rising geopolitical tensions, contributing to a refragmentation of the world. The awareness around risk is growing strongly within society, and is requiring a strong demand for protection. We see this through the issue of insurability that has come to the fore these past few months in public debate in France, as well as in other countries. Never before has the role of reinsurers been so crucial to assess, price, pool, and absorb risk.
Against this backdrop, SCOR has a decisive role to play as solution provider. We have all the necessary assets for that, the expertise, the financial strength of our balance sheet, as well as the power of our franchise. My conviction is that these solutions will require innovation and partnerships that we'll be able to forge with our clients and with our partners. So the challenges that we have to address are complex, global, and constantly changing. And now, the solutions to meet those challenges must be innovative and collective. So this will offer fascinating professional opportunities that are in tune with today's expectations. Working in an international environment on real problems by relying on innovation and group strength, all that lies at the heart of my ambition for SCOR. Thank you for your attention.
As emerging and evolving risks reshape the risk landscape, the reinsurer's role of anticipating and absorbing shock is more important than ever. But as our world changes, so does the way we see it. Risk awareness is growing, prevention is being prioritized, and demand for protection is increasing. In this environment, SCOR serves as a solution provider for clients and societies, embracing innovation and strategic partnerships to enable prevention, protection, and recovery. The challenges we face are complex, global, and constantly changing, so the solutions must be innovative and collective. But with every risk, there's an opportunity: an opportunity to make a positive change, to tap into the resilience of the human spirit, to take a step toward a brighter future together. This vision is inspired by our raison d'être, guided by our strategic plan, and led by our people.
We are turning to the future while staying true to the art and science of risk, integrating new sources of data, cutting-edge technologies, and innovative approaches to risk to transform our vision into solutions. The future is ahead, and whatever tomorrow brings, we are moving forward.
[Foreign language]
I would now like to give the floor to Vanessa Marquette, who is the chair of, the committee, the Nominations Committee, and she's going to tell us what they have been doing. Thank you very much, Fabrice. It's a great pleasure for me to tell you about the work that has been done in the Nominations Committee. I would like to bring up, first of all, Denis Kessler's succession as, chair of the, board, which ended with the nomination of Fabrice Brégier. Then we will look at the composition of the board, with this year, the renewal of two directors and the departure of Claude Tendil, who has reached the statutory age limit.
And lastly, we will talk about the assessment of the board that I carried out just a few months ago, the conclusions of which you can find in the Universal Registration Document. But before all of that, I would suggest that we come back and look at some of the contextual issues. 2023 was a year that was very eventful and that and was marked by major changes in the governance of our group. On the first of May 2023, Thierry Léger stepped in and replaced Laurent Rousseau at the head of SCOR. François de Varenne, who had been the interim CEO from January to May 2023, was then appointed CFO and deputy CEO of SCOR. Denis Kessler passed away on the ninth of June 2023.
He was utterly devoted to the group that he had presided over for 20 years, and he was active in his role up until the very last day of his life. Augustin de Romanet, Vice Chairman, was interim until the nomination of Fabrice Brégier, the 25th of June, in accordance with the provisions of the rules of procedure. Lastly, Claude Tendil, who reached the statutory age limit, will be leaving us after this final shareholders meeting. After having been in the board for 20 years, we would like to warmly thank him for his total commitment to the group. I would like to talk to you now about how we went about filling in Denis Kessler's shoes as chairman of the board.
As you know, the Nominations Committee had already begun to work on this before the 2022 shareholders meeting, so that we could hopefully announce Denis Kessler's successor before the end of 2023. Denis Kessler died on the 9th of June, 2023, so the committee and the board had already started to work, supported by Egon Zehnder, and we continued to work until the final appointment of Fabrice Brégier on the 25th of June. This upheaval of our calendar had no effect on the smooth running of the succession process. After Denis Kessler's passing, the committee had already identified a certain number of external candidates that had been interviewed by Egon Zehnder. Confronted with these external candidates, some directors also informed us of their interest in becoming chair of the board .
Fabrice Brégier was one of them, and he resigned from the head of the Nominations Committee to avoid any possible conflict of interest. Adrien Couret, who was an independent director of the board and also chairman of the Risk Committee , accepted to temporarily step in as the chair of the Nominations Committee , so that to Denis Kessler's succession could be carried out smoothly with the help of Augustin de Romanet, who was the interim chair. After having listened to Thierry Léger's opinion and the analyses of Egon Zehnder, the committee and the board finally pronounced themselves unanimously in favor of the appointment of Fabrice Brégier on the 25th of June, 2023. Adrien Couret, therefore, handed back the head of the Nominations Committee , and the board gave me the honor of becoming chairwoman. What about the board's composition?
This year, there are three terms of reference that will be reaching an end. Those of Patricia Lacoste, Bruno Pfister, and Claude Tendil. I've already told you that Claude Tendil has reached the statutory age limit, and he'll be leaving the Board after this shareholders' meeting. However, Patricia Lacoste, as with Bruno Pfister, could have their terms of office renewed for three years, a period during which, if all things remain equal, they will remain independent directors. With an attendance rate of 100% in 2023, and a great involvement in a number of committees, and being members of the Board, they fully contribute to all of our work. So the Nominations Committee and the Board has unanimously voted in favor of the renewal of their terms of office.
Last year, the terms of office of Martine Gerow, Zhen Wang, and Fields Wicker-Miurin were renewed for a period of two years and not three, which allows for a better turnover of terms of office. In 2025, there will be five terms of office that will be reaching an end. Some directors could be leaving the board, particularly if they lose their status of independence for having been there for too long. The Nominations Committee has already begun to seek for one or more candidates who could join the board in the 2025 shareholders meeting. Maybe the size of the board will be different, but only marginally so. Lastly, let me just remind you that the composition of the board today is fully in line with the best standards and practices in corporate governance.
It scrupulously respects the recommendations of the AFEP-MEDEF Governance Code. The board has a great diversity of skills, a large majority of independent directors. It's international, with nine different nationalities represented. There are two employee reps, and there is a large proportion of women as well, almost 50%. The board is also helped in its work by committees. There are seven consultative advisory committees that are in charge of specific topics and issuing recommendations. Let me remind you of how these committees are formed. All of the directors are involved in the works of the committees, who meet as regularly as necessary, and the attendance rate is around 100%. Patricia Lacoste will be joining the Nominations Committee after this shareholders meeting, replacing Claude Tendil. I'd like to finish by the assessment of the board.
This year, once more, the board tasked me with the mission of evaluating the board after the external evaluation that was done by Egon Zehnder in 2022, 2023. I did this under the helpful supervision of Augustin de Romanet, the vice chair of the board, and in accordance with the provisions of our rules of procedure. First of all, it seems, I, I must inform you all that the directors essentially pronounce on the period following the appointment of Fabrice Brégier, and then the relevance of the functioning of the board. The conclusions of the assessment were shared with the Nominations Committee and the board. The synthesis is relatively detailed, and you can find it in the URD, which was published several weeks ago.
Obviously, we will need to be finding new board members in the future. And if, when we start to look for them, we need to find some with specific skills, operational skills and reinsurance, knowledge of the American market, expertise in digital IT, and always have being transparent and structured. The board members are extremely satisfied by the binôme that they can see with the CEO and the chairman of the board. At the same time, we are asking that some of the technical subjects that are discussed within the committees themselves, for which they don't necessarily belong to which they don't necessarily belong, should also be reported back to the board with extremely detailed reports. So this is the end of my presentation.
I will be delighted to see you again next year to tell you exactly how far we have gotten in our work and how far we have got in looking for a or several new board members. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Vanessa, and let me as well perhaps just say one or two things for the departure of Claude Tendil. Claude Tendil will be leaving. He was there for a long time with Denis Kessler, a wise man, a knowledgeable man. With his help and his authority, we were able to write some wonderful chapters in SCOR's book. So thank you ever so much, Claude, for everything that you have brought, for your unstinting devotion to the group. Thank you very much.
I'd now like to give the floor to Fields Wicker-Miurin, who is the chairperson of the Compensation Committee. Voilà. Shareholders and friends, as with every year, it is my pleasure to find myself before you to tell you about the work that's been done in the Compensation Committee that I chair. The resolutions in the concerning compensation are quite numerous this year because of the events that were scattered through 2023. I would like to tell you about these events, talking about those that are impacting the 2023 financial year, and those that will be impacting the compensation policy for 2024. But first and foremost, I'd like to remind you very briefly as to what our underlying context is. As you know, Laurent Rousseau left SCOR on the 26th of January last year.
François de Varenne stepped in, in his stead at the head of the group for an interim period, which ended on the first of May, with the arrival of Thierry Léger in his new job. François de Varenne was then appointed CEO and Deputy CEO of SCOR. But 2023 was also, and above all, marked by the passing of Denis Kessler. Our chairman died on the ninth of June, after more than 20 years at the head of this group. Augustin de Romanet, who was vice chair, stepped in as interim chair until the appointment of Fabrice Brégier on the twenty-fifth of June, 2023.
These changes are leading us today to put before you no less than 11 resolutions, 6 say-on-pay ex-post, that have to expos, that have to dealing with 2023 compensation, 3 say-on-pay ex ante, po- for the compensation policies 2024, and 2 resolutions pertaining to the payout of performance shares and options to the directors and employees of the group. I would like to tell you now, first of all, about the compensation that was paid out or attributed in 2023, beginning with those of the board members. Denis Kessler remained chair of the board until the first of January, from the first of January till his passing on the ninth of June. During that period, he got fixed compensation of EUR 265,909, and benefited from the normal advantages.
Fabrice Brégier, for his part, was appointed chair of the board on the twenty-fifth of June, 2023. His compensation policy was the same as that which was applied in 2023, as it had been for Denis Kessler. So from the period, from the twenty-fifth of June to the thirty-first of December, 2023, he received a fixed compensation of EUR 311 thousand and normal advantages. Excluding life, a specific life insurance that Denis Kessler continued to benefit from, subject to certain conditions, and which to which Fabrice Brégier renounced.
Augustin de Romanet was not compensated during the interim period, where he was vice chair, and the committee and the board would like to warmly thank him for that. Let's move on now to the three directors who have the three CEOs who were at the head of SCOR during 2023. For Laurent Rousseau, his compensation for the 25 first days of January was determined following strictly applying the specific and approved policies by the General Assembly in 2023. Laurent Rousseau benefited from a bonus of some EUR 60,000. The committee and the board considered that the leadership criteria had been reached to the extent of 50%, given the departure of the CEO at the beginning of the year. Laurent Rousseau received no shares, no options for 2023.
François de Varenne, for his part, was CEO of SCOR from the 26th of January to the 30th of April, 2023. His compensation was fixed, applying the specific policy that was approved by the 2023 shareholders meeting. The Compensation Committee and the board are extremely satisfied by the work that was accomplished by François de Varenne at the head of SCOR, and therefore have decided to grant him the maximum bonus. François de Varenne was compensated also as a member of the executive committee, up until the 25th of January, and again, as from the 1st of May, 2023. He did not receive double compensation during that period where he was interim CEO.
Lastly, Thierry Léger received a fixed amount of EUR 833,000, and a bonus reaching EUR 908,000, corresponding to a success rate of 109%. The Compensation Committee and the board also considered that the leadership criterion applicable to the bonus had been reached and surpassed by 140%, considering the results that were obtained by Thierry Léger, who, despite his arrival halfway through the year, and the passing of Denis Kessler, managed to fully galvanize his troops. Let's move on now to the 2024 compensation policy, and I'll begin with that of the Board of Directors.
As you can see on this slide, we have not modified nor asked for any change in the distribution key, nor an increase in the overall budget, although it had been insufficient in 2023. Indeed, the board and the committees met 50 times in 2023 to organize, above all, the replacement of the CEO and the Chairman's succession. The theoretical compensation of the board directors should have surpassed EUR 10,000 by EUR 10,000, sorry, the amount of the budget that had been attributed by the shareholders' assembly. Each director, therefore, received less compensation, so that we did not spend more than the EUR 2 million that was allocated for those meetings. If I move on now to the Chair's compensation policy, this does not change. EUR 600,000 a year, no shares, no options.
And the specific life insurance policy that Denis Kessler benefited from is not being carried over. And if we move on now to the compensation policy of the CEO, which has largely evolved to meet the requirements expressed by our investors and proxy advisors. On this page, you have the main principles that guided the work of the board and the committees. There are eight of these principles: The balance between the fixed and the varied, variable compensation, and short and long-term compensation. Transparency, readability and visibility and consistency. Efficiency, with a policy that rewards super performance, and which sanctions underperformance. Objectivity, thanks to measurable criteria. And the doing away with any overlapping between criteria that are applicable to the bonus and to shares and options.
Carrying on efforts that, in order to adapt to IFRS 17, and today, the new objectives of our new strategic plan. Lastly, the rolling out of the ESG criteria, as Thierry said, criteria that are integrated in all long-term compensation. It is in this way, that without changing neither the amounts nor the balance that we managed to find last year, the Compensation Committee, and the board completely overhauled the way that, the bonuses and the shares and the options were being delivered. Performance criteria and targets are in line with the main operational challenges of the group, and the objectives, and the group's, hypotheses. Our different scales, measurable scales have been rethought with, different thresholds that are triggered today at 70% of the target attained, as opposed to 50% or 60% only last year, in the previous years.
Lastly, the committee and the board only kept in mind one qualitative objective, that is leadership, and that is what will be applicable to the bonus that has been—there is a ceiling at 100% as opposed to 140% last year, and this to meet the arrival of Thierry Léger. As I said, ESG criteria today are fully embedded in long-term compensation. On the one hand, we measure the progress that has been accomplished by the group in gender equality. That is a social criterion. We also measure to what extent we have managed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in our investments, in our operations, and even as Thierry said, in the way in which we underwrite, which is particularly ambitious and commits us.
This is the environmental criterion, and together, the ESG criteria amounts to 15% of the granting of shares and options, which is a 50% increase over last year. I would like to end by drawing your attention to the mechanism of neutralization of super performance that is applicable to shares and options. If the success rates of one of the criterion, criteria is null and void, the others will be... Will reach a ceiling of zero, which means that the compensation will not be accorded, or there will be compensation based on an underperformance. This mechanism is applicable in accordance with the TSR criterion, and we have reviewed this with the agreement of the CEO in order to neutralize the vesting of certain lower than average activities.
Lastly, a very quick word, just to tell you that in order to roll out these policies and to strengthen our employee shareholders, we are proposing renewing the resolutions whereby shares and options will be granted to the directors and employees of SCOR. The overall budget envelope for these options will no longer just be given to the managing directors of SCOR, except in exceptional circumstances, and there is a slightly larger number of shares that will be handed out. I remind you that these attributions will be continued in the same way as they were last year.
In order to to conclude, let me just tell you how very proud I am of the work that the committee has done since I became chairperson, and in particular, over the last year. During the 2023 assembly, I told you of our ambition, which was to continue to design, policies of compensation that would be attractive, that would be encouraging, and that would ensure that, the interests of shareholders, the group, and, those who work in the group would all be aligned. It has not always been easy. We have worked as hard as we can. We are very proud of our policies, and we will respect, the votes, which we hope today will, have your approval, not only this year, but also in the years to come. Thank you very much.
[Foreign language]
Well, thank you, Fields. It's always a rather difficult exercise that you acquit yourself remarkably well. Over to Augustin de Romanet, Vice Chairman, Chair of the Sustainability Committee, who'll present our initiatives pertaining to our climate strategy. Ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, good morning. I'm going to present three documents to you, one on the global ESG strategy, and then we'll focus on climate with two documents. A document on climate policy in general. A final, part, document will be the climate policy for 2023. Those of you who want to doze off can do so. You have the summary of what I'm going to tell you. Firstly, a summary of our activities. Sustainability Committee, comprising 7 members, met on 4 occasions in 2023. Good attendance of 86%.
We had very busy regulatory agenda, drawing up the first alignment ratios with taxonomy, preparing the new obligation stemming from the new CSRD directive, Corporate Sustainability Reporting. We reviewed the items of the sustainable strategy and our new ambitions for the period 2023-2026, covering the strategic plan. These targets cover the three pillars of sustainable development. That's to say, combating climate change with the new target of becoming net zero by 2030 on operations of the group, and new targets drawn up for underwriting, on which I'll tell you a bit more about in a moment. Secondly, the employee dimension with an upping of the group's ambition, as Fields just said, regarding the feminization of executive bodies, initially, a pledge to reach 30% feminization of top management by 2025....
Commitment taken as part of long-term compensation of the CEO and ex co, commitment to reach 32% of top management feminization by 2026. Lastly, in terms of good governance, as Fields also set out, part of the CEO's long-term compensation is henceforth indexed on the targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Committee also focused on our ESG rating with particular attention on that supplied by CDP. That's the new name of the former Carbon Disclosure Project, whose criteria link to transparency of information supplied on climate and the environment. Lastly, the committee reviewed the performance indicators of various actions contained in the annual plan and ensured the successful rollout of the strategy. We also reviewed the non-financial performance statement, Section 6 of the Universal Registration Document, also the sustainability report that dives deeper into the work of SCOR. Turning now to SCOR's climate strategy.
Well, the climate strategy, as Thierry Léger outlined a few moments ago, is part of what's known as change theory. That is to say, the combination of various measures to promote a reduction in greenhouse gases in the group's portfolio and, of course, in the atmosphere. Let's start with the first measure, steering portfolios through exclusion of fossil fuels and ambitious targets applicable to underwriting portfolios, investments, and operations. The 23% target on underwriting that Thierry Léger has just announced is a new target that completes the targets announced in previous years and unveiled on investments and operations. This new target covers the part of the portfolio of SCOR Business Solutions pertaining to European clients. Indeed, we considered that it was unreasonable to base ourselves on a global portfolio because these are companies whose indicators are not all reliable or even all available.
Regarding investments now, the reduction targets have already been set in previous years in line with scientific data. Lastly, operation SCOR's daily activity, travel, offices, heating. We announced in the Strat Plan Forward 2026, our willingness to be net zero by 2030. The annual target for reducing the carbon intensity by employee is set 45% for 2024, with twenty nineteen as a benchmark. These targets have been defined, approved by the board, and rest on scientific data to return to global warming, that at a maximum under 1.5 degrees. Second part of change theory is dialogue with our partners. We said, SCOR's people, to initiate a dialogue with partners, at least 30% of the premium that we underwrite, to invite them to reduce their greenhouse gases. We also joined investor coalitions to interact with the main emitters.
Thirdly, the group, the role played by SCOR in the transition to a low-carbon economy happens through its underwriting and investment activities. Here again, quantitative targets have been set. An increase of 3.5 times, premier from low carbon energies and investment targets for Green Bonds that fund projects, to finance, green activities or promote, the environment transition. 2023 was a pivotal year 'cause the new targets on underwriting for reduced intensity, the group has now rolled out its change theory across all its activity. That's to say, underwriting investments and its own operations. All these targets demonstrate the group's ambitions. Lastly, we seek to apply the best governance practices. That's the reason why these, decarbonization criteria were included in the long-term compensation of the CEO, with milestones based on the strategic plan. Turning now more specifically to the achievements in 2023.
We announced last year at the AGM that we would no longer cover premiums linked to new gas fields. This has been achieved. Furthermore, we announced our intention to increase twofold premiums from low-carbon energy by 2025, and the chart bottom left shows that this target's already been reached in 2023 ahead of our timetable. Turning now to investments. The decarbonization target for equities and bonds of private issuers, we're well on the way to reaching it. We're 27%, that was the target at the end of 2024. We've already reached 25% reduction at the end of 2023, as you can see, top right. Achieving this target depends in large part on the behavior of businesses in which the group invests, which isn't totally in our control. The peak of greenhouse gases hasn't yet been reached.
We must track our portfolio very closely, but we remain confident. And what's more, we've reached, in terms of Green Bonds, our 2023 target, because with an achievement of EUR 900 million of Green Bonds in our portfolio, we've exceeded our target of EUR 850 million for the end of 2023. As regards the group's daily operations, the target was a reduction of 55% per employee. It's reached in 2023 because we've reached 64% at the end of 2023 versus 2014, as shown, top right on the chart. As I said, in 2023, we've set interim milestone for the long-term compensation of the CEO. Lastly, in 2023, we undertook preparatory work ahead of the implementation and compliance of the new non-financial reporting directive. We'll report to you on our work, early next year.
So by way of conclusion, I can emphasize the group continued in 2023 all the components of its change theory by relying on new trajectories that are science-based, with targets applicable to the portfolio SCOR Business Solutions . We now have quantitative and measurable targets to contribute to net zero emissions by 2050. Thank you. Merci, Augustin. Thank you, Augustin. That was the last presentation by board members. My thanks to all of them. The various reports of the board for the ordinary, extraordinary parts of the meeting were made available to you, and it's now time for me to give the floor to the statutory auditors, Mr. Maxime Simoen, for his conclusions. Thank you, Chairman. Ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, good morning.
On behalf of the group of statutory auditors, I'm gonna deliver a summary of the 10 reports that are submitted to your AGM. First reports concern the ordinary part of your AGM concerning the annual financial statement, consolidated financial statements. On the annual financials, we delivered an unqualified opinion without any observation. In terms of key audit matters, the justification of our assessments, like in previous years, focused on the assessment of technical provisions, premiums, and equity securities. As regards to the other specific verifications provided by law, we have no observation, save the lack of information on the payment terms for insurance and reinsurance transactions in the management report. That concerns all companies. We recall that we don't form a year-end view on provisional data pertaining to solvency.
Turning now to the consolidated financial, we also issued a certification with an unqualified opinion, a technical regarding change in accounting method, IFRS 17 for insurance contracts, as at first of July. The justification of our assessment focuses on that. You'll find in our report all the due diligence undertaken to comply with that, and then key audit matters that are pretty straightforward, the estimate of insurance liabilities, life and long life, goodwill, life and non-life, and deferred tax assets in respect of tax liabilities that we can carry down. On the group's management, we have no comments on the fair and sincerity of the information provided in this report.
Turning now to related party agreements, the purpose of our assignment is to bring to the attention of your board related party agreements that were brought to our attention and not to form a view on their usefulness and their merits. Our report refers to no new related party agreement, continues an agreement taken out in 2021, consistent with the transactional protocol between SCOR SE, Covéa Coopérations, Covéa SGAM . Turning now to the extraordinary part of your AGM, we've drawn up seven reports concerning the various delegations granted to the board, pertaining to the capital and issuance of equity securities. We put in place the measures we deem necessary, have no comments to make on the information supplied to you in these in the reports of the board.
Insofar as the final conditions, as some of these transactions haven't yet been fully defined, we'll draw up in due course, if necessary, additional reports. Thank you.
[Foreign language]
Thank you. I propose we now open this up to the Q&A session with the shareholders present.
[Foreign language]
Kindly wait for the microphone, please.
[Foreign language]
Good morning, Jean-François Delcaire. Represent HMG Finance. We own about 100,000 shares. Well, firstly, well done to the board, bravo to the new chief executive, and of course, bravo to all the employees for the new momentum imparted for a few quarters now, and return to a form of calm that's appreciated by all. I got 5 quick questions. The first, I'd like you to return to the pricing environment, which, as you said, has been pretty favorable now for some 2 years, and perhaps you could tell us about its prospect for sustainability. What might disrupt this favorable pricing environment, and what are our levers? Secondly, are there types of risks that you deem poorly priced or mispriced, where you want to reduce your exposure?
Certain types of risks that are less attractive, hence for, and what's your strategy in this regard? Third point, Q1. Reported this morning, a pretty sharp decrease in the share price on a quite high written basis. Analysts noted there were two points that negatively unsettled the market, mortality claims, high mortality claims in the US and resignation for P&C. Can you perhaps enlighten us or tell us a bit more about that, on that cancellation? Third, fourth point, rather, a word on Covéa. According to the press, there's an arbitration procedure underway with Covéa on the conditions of disposal of a life book of business. Can you tell us a bit about the context and give us the timeline for such proceedings, if they're indeed underway?
Then final, more personal question for Thierry Léger. You've been in the job for just over a year. You've already given how what you feel about this situation, but what's left by way of areas of improvement? You've set out a strategic plan, but just many things are underway, but where is further progress required? What's your take? Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Léger, for your answers to my questions. Thank you. Thierry will indeed answer the key points. I'm going to return it. I say that overall, we have reviewed upon proposal of management, our risk allocation by business line, in a quite detailed way, taking into account the risks. I mean, it's no secret to say that on U.S. casualty front, we've been slightly more prudent than in the past.
So Thierry will give you some information about that. Yes, there's a decrease, but I don't follow the share price on a daily basis. Otherwise, it really does lead to a headache. What counts is the share price performance. I mean, we're now stable at around 30 EUR. Believe me, there's still substantial scope for our economic value is measured beyond 50 EUR. I'm not saying that everything must be reflected in the share price, but you see that there is indeed a variance. It means beyond 23, we have to make our shareholders confident in this message of resilience that we want to convey. So we adopt a prudent attitude in the delivery of our results. We're not overly exploiting things in order to keep reserves that will allow sustainable performance and sustainable dividends paid.
And on the arbitration that you mentioned, you'll appreciate that I can't give you the details. I mean, if there's arbitration on the retrocession of 30% of our life portfolio held by our Irish subsidiary, that was a substantive agreement in 2021 that we bought with Covéa. It means there's a disagreement. I mean, it's part of the rules of business. We have other arbitration proceedings with other clients. It's not what we want, but it's one way of reaching an agreement when there are diverging views as to the timeline. It's not in our control, but we expect that by the end of 2025 the arbitration will complete. It's not a commitment on my part. We're not we don't master that. I'll go through your points.
Pricing environment, currently very high, hasn't yet shown any signs of a decrease, or if there have been signs, they're really very weak signals. We're still seeing upward demand and supply that is struggling to keep pace, driven by inflation, climate change, and other factors. On the other hand, let's not forget, I mean, the price is but one factor when it comes to pricing risk. We also look at the structures, the terms and conditions, and they haven't changed at all. If we look back historically at events after very hard market episodes, it was a relatively hard market with very satisfactory margins that tend to last for some 10 years. So it's not something that stops abruptly. Let me remind you that we're in a very volatile environment, be it climate or with geopolitics.
It would be very surprising if those factors were to disappear totally this year. I don't expect that to happen. There will, unfortunately, be regular reminders that we are now living in a very volatile world. In terms of mispriced risks, we were quite vocal in saying that liability risks in the U.S. are not at the right level. We decided to exit, not fully, but insofar as we don't have an ambition to grow in those business lines pretty much. I mean, all the other business lines today are posting satisfactory margin levels. If we just look and see if they contribute to our diversification or not, and that's where we allocate our capital. Q1, from my standpoint, well, an element of uncertainty was given on the life side.
With negative CSM, experience, P&C resilience, I'll return to that in a moment, but I don't think that was a real problem. But anyway, I'll return to that. In life, as you know, it's a book with 60 years and more. It represents a considerable stock, and it's true that from time to time in life as well as in non-life business, we see quarters with a high loss ratio, and that's what we experienced in the Q1 . We also asked our shareholders not to overly interpret the events of one quarter in a life, in a line of business that lasts for 6 years. I don't want to, in any way, diminish the negative impact of that volatility, but I won't go so far as to say as you must read a lot into a quarter in life business.
The cancellation of an important treaty that we wrote is quite normal. These are treaties that are signed in the interests of both companies. If one of the two parties feels that the treaty no longer offers the expected advantages, each party is free to terminate it, and that's what happened. Nothing unusual about that. The impact in Q1 resolved the matter. Fabrice mentioned the arbitration with Covéa, so I won't go back on that, but I just want to remind you all that Covéa is also a SCOR client, has been a client of SCOR for decades, and you can well imagine that such an arbitration proceeding is not in SCOR's interest.
It's in our collective interest to make sure that all this comes to a swift outcome. On the personal front, I've mentioned this, if you referring to what needs to be... Everything that is in Forward 2026 describes it very well. We have an extremely strong base with the SCOR franchise. I've visited hundreds of clients over the past 12 months, and what I heard from each and every client is that they wanted to see SCOR ramp up in reinsurance programs. So I see huge potential. I mentioned the people, but I'd like to once again acknowledge them. They're experts, they're hugely motivated, who have a genuine SCOR spirit, and I'm trying to obviously have some of that spirit rub off on me. When you come from the outside, you don't always have the right reflex.
A great team with such a frankness. I mean, I'm very positive. We've got plans, projects, we described them in Forward 2026, ALM-
... data, et cetera, I'm very confident that we will succeed going forward.
[Foreign language]
Next question, please. Yes, good morning, Danièle Darvin , individual investor. I have several questions on the ecological transition. In the presentation, you don't talk about scope 1, 2, 3, which is the classification, the ABC classification of carbon. So what are you doing for that? Secondly, you have an assumption of 1.5 degrees. Now, I don't know, you've probably heard Jean-Marc Jancovici? at the assembly, who said, we're already up to 2, 1.5 is obsolete. So if you are working on 1.5, you're ensuring windstorms, hurricanes, floods, and it will be more than 1.5. So I don't see the correlation between your business and the what you're communicating. And as with many companies, you're buying Green Bonds, everybody's buying Green Bonds, everybody's buying green electricity.
I found in your presentation, there's a lot of greenwashing, and I think that you should be, in your plan, you maybe need some type of plan B, because at this rate, you're going to be insuring much greater risks. And when Mr. Léger is satisfied at the increase in premiums, just as well, because the risks that he's insuring are also increasing. Thank you. Thank you for these questions. Obviously, our Scope 1 and 2 is extremely limited. We are committing ourselves, we are entering into engagements. It's not greenwashing and net zero emissions by 2030. It's quite severe, and we're already on a pathway to that. We're halfway there and have been working on it since 2019. What is essential is Scope 3. It's our investments, it's the insurance contracts that we enter into.
If we stick to these engagements, we are still in line with the 1.5 degree objective, if you look at our portfolios, and that is, after all, the objective. With one slight reservation, this is going to depend globally on the performance of all of the players in the corporate world. You're quite true. We are concerned about this. Even if we ensure climate risks, our idea is never to multiply those risks. We are relatively prudent in our policies pertaining to natural catastrophes. So I'm very sorry that you feel that this is just pie in the sky. It's not true. When we decide that we are no longer going to be ensuring any more gas pipelines, we're actually penalizing ourselves on a business level.
But we're doing it because we believe that it is in the interests of the company in the medium term. This policy will continue to evolve, and in accordance with the effect of Medef, we meet with them regularly, and we discuss also this with the shareholders regularly. But we have taken note on what you feel about this policy. We're a little late. That's perfect, yes? Perfect. Yes, just to come back a little bit. This morning, I saw that the share price had dropped by, down by -7, and now it's -11, so it is a severe drop. Is this a problem of communications? Is it the market that hasn't truly understood or hasn't properly interpreted your figures? But I think that there is something underlying all of this. And since we have lost the emblematic Mr.
Kessler, have the shareholders actually been shuffled around? We listened to all of the stories about how SCOR has avoided takeover, hostile takeovers and so forth. Where are we standing on that today? Well, thank you very much for that question, sir. On the second point, of course, our shareholders are not always stable. They are always coming and going. But I can mention the fact that Covéa and SCOR have signed a memorandum of understanding in June 2021, which allows SCOR to raise options at a definite price on some of the shares that are held by Covéa. And I think that in 2023, in October, we did raise 5% of those shares.
I believe that Covéa still has 3.7% of our shares, and those 5% were taken over by BNP Paribas Cardif. So that is one major change in the structure of our shareholders. I think that, as far as the share price is concerned, you can't just look at this on one particular day, particularly a day where there is a shareholders meeting being held. It has dropped by 7%, maybe in the euphoria of the announcement of financial results by some of our competitors. But I think all of this is linked to the risk appreciation that people concerning our life portfolio, as we've already mentioned, there has been a discrepancy as to what the market was expecting, a variance. But this is not something that is de facto.
It is not something that is there to stay, it is a once off. And as we have done several times in the past with the property portfolio, we will be revising what we are doing in the life activities. We remain confident. This is not pie in the sky. We remain confident in our plan, and I hope that this plan is going to allow us to continue to surge forward as we have done in the past, as far as the share price is concerned.
[Foreign language]
Ariel Bourdon for Reclaim Finance. I, too, have a question on SCOR's climate engagements. Despite the impact on health and the environment, today, the group is still ensuring Tacoma LNG, Freeport LNG, and there's a much longer list as well. Mr. de Romanet talked about SCOR's engagements in the field of science. Now, the International Energy Agency studies on methane have been published, are very clear. And all of this, unfortunately, in Europe, is actually to the advantage of the Russians, and it would be a great threat. And SCOR seems to be dragging its feet as to becoming to engaging itself in this. Does SCOR think that it is doing risk prevention when you are still reinsuring new methane plants?
I just wonder whether the best thing to do for SCOR would be to stop reinsuring any new project of this type of fossil fuels, such as new methane plants.
[Foreign language]
Thank you very much. Now, I feel that I understand that there are a lot of questions around our environmental strategy. So this is a prime occasion to tell you more about our ambitions in that field. I'd just like to come back to what we are actually doing, and how this is at the heart of a strategy aiming at net zero in underwriting and in investment between now and 2050, and operational net zero before 2030. With this, we are fully in line with the top of the world range of objectives. You find European objectives, companies, sorry, normally at the top of the range.
Most of the European insurance and reinsurance companies are ahead of the rest of the world, and I don't think that we have anything to be ashamed of when we compare ourselves with our peers in the rest of the world. So we have laid down certain objectives. I've heard several people talk about greenwashing, and I firmly disagree with you. SCOR is not doing greenwashing. All of our engagements, all of our objectives, we respect, and these are concrete objectives. We're even aiming higher than some of these objectives, and I don't know whether there are other companies that can congratulate themselves on doing that. So again, SCOR is a top ranking in respecting its objectives. Now I would like to precisely reply to your question.
What happens in practice is that we are not targeting one single country, one single technology, or one single company specifically. It is our role not to do that. But given our rules, given our objectives, this, of course, as Fabrice says, this influences our underwriting, our investment. And it is absolutely clear that if our objective is to decrease the intensity of the carbon in our portfolios by underwriting risks, then it's quite clear that we're going to begin by looking at the most intense risks. So it is obvious that risks such as LNG or others, will be targeted much more quickly than other risks. But I'm absolutely against, for a company such as ours, in fact, it would be dangerous, to specifically target a certain technology, or a certain sector, or a certain country, or a certain company.
That is not our strategy. What we do promise to do, we achieve. There is no greenwashing, and I think that all of this is firmly taken into account in our underwriting policies. Thank you very much, Cherry. I think there will be two last questions, please. Quick, so that we can have quick answers.
Bonjour, Jean-Luc Champetier, Journal.
Hello, I represent shareholders who've given their proxies to Investir. You mentioned life reinsurance. Could you tell us a bit more about the difficulties and the risks on this life book and its proportion? And secondly, can we have an assessment of the Baltimore loss and events in New Caledonia? Thanks. Okay, so in terms of life reinsurance, what we've observed, and that's where there can be differences across reinsurers, we had a high U.S. mortality in Q3 2023, and we see in Q1 2024 these claims appearing in our results. It really does depend on how actuaries reserve for the losses. Companies have different cutoffs. The cutoff for us is such that Q3, in terms of the loss ratio, enters in Q1 the following year.
So it's a mortality that represents a fully normal volatility compared to the scale of our commitments in the U.S. There's nothing abnormal about that. And then we also said that the settlement pace for our claims that was heavily impacted by COVID, we're returning to a far more normal settlement pace. We've maintained the COVID pace, and so we expect, but we're not sure, so that we're perhaps slightly conservative on that front. That's something we're going to track and monitor, and if it is conservative, then we'll be able to announce something positive on that front going forward. Baltimore is a loss, as you know, that carries with it a fair amount of uncertainty. We've decided to, as you know, apply very prudent reserving policy, and that's a statement that we've made on several...
When there are major events, to provision very prudently. We provisioned for some sixty million on this claim. We consider a large part a bulk of that reserving is genuine or real prudence. And for New Caledonia, it's far too soon. It's obviously events out there are tragic. However, and it's always rather cynical on the one hand, to see what's happening in the country, and to see all the destruction and that human beings are sometimes capable and to say that as a reinsurer, we don't expect the loss to be too significant. I hope that answers your question. Thank you. Gentleman in blue has had his hand up for quite a while.
For the duration of bonds, given that the Fed and the ECB are likely to stop rising rates or even begin to decrease by the end of the year. For the Fed, are you gonna consider increasing the duration of these bonds to benefit from higher rates for a while? Secondly, I find that the ESG bonds that are just put out by the EU, this bond is also gonna impact European peers, is an advantage when it comes to selling SCOR products to other clients? 'Cause there'll be other competitors, other peers, who won't have this standardized reporting procedure. And so that would be an advantage for our sales force, even if it costs a bit in terms of reporting costs. Thanks. Well, so you see that reporting and rules can sometimes offer benefits.
I'll see if Thierry shares that view. The duration of the bond, I fully agree with your observation. So what we're doing is, with the money, fresh money coming in from the January, April and other renewals, we invested in longer duration. So that's, indeed, precisely what we're doing, along the lines of what you outlined. ESG Europe bonds, wait. We're watching to see if it's a benefit for us, and if it's advantageous, we'll make use of it. And to reward the gentleman who's had his hand up for a very long time, which will bring the Q&A session to... We're running very late. Thanks. Thanks for the very useful discussions. You mentioned, Mr. Léger, transformation plan underway with various points as regards improved operational efficiency and intermediate echelons. Can you give more information to your share?
How many people are impacted, the management ratio before, after, sales, development, you mentioned, to move closer to clients, SCOR people closer to their clients? What's changing between the past and the future? Thirdly, on your climate pledges, what I'd like to know is, today, on oil and gas, in terms of underwriting, it represents how much the sector, so that we can say, well, should we continue to exclude the sector sooner or later, heavily or not? As a shareholder, we want to see underwritings increase going forward. Don't Answer. Operational efficiency, let me remind you that I spoke of values, bring the whole organization closer to our clients, swifter decision-makings to be more agile, et cetera. It's really in that spirit that we've attacked these three initiatives. I mean, the aim has never been cost efficiencies.
I mean, there was an efficiency gain in what we did, but it's never been the objective. So restructuring, it was a two-stage process. There were people who were impacted, as you indicated. We're not in any way concealing that. We've always sought to find a solution with the individuals who wished to stay. The restructuring also comprises internalization. We have hundreds of jobs that are externalized today that we want to internalize going forward. We have great many positions to offer. We've always sought to offer an alternative to our people before losing them. We have no ambition to lose our people who are very dedicated, who are excellent. That's not at all our ambition. There were some departures that occurred. For the clients, I mean, didn't quite understand about client focus. I mean, I'll give you an example.
Pre-restructuring, there were people who were in charge of major clients or, major countries, who were seven levels removed from me. You imagine the distance, and those individuals now are two levels away. I hope that illustrates what we've sought to achieve. It's very different that I find myself at seven levels from a client or two, and the same goes for the whole organization. So I expect things to change quite considerably. Then we spoke about oil and gas, the climate. So SCOR is a key player in the energy sector. SCOR, we have, we have... We're one of the global leaders, energy, there's gas, there's oil, there's solar power. We're also one of the global leaders in, solar power and sustainable energy. We're also trying to make this transition, this shift from one to the other.
But there are clients who are there for the long term with a transition, transitioning to net zero. And these are clients that we still support, even if they're in the oil business. We differentiate heavily when it comes to our commitments in that field. Thank you, Thierry. Shareholders, thank you very much for this. It's high time that we move to voting on the resolution. I now have the final number of shares, 128 million, 716 thousand. That's 71.85% of the company shares with voting rights. So we will now proceed to vote on all the resolutions in the agenda in the notice of meeting, published in April. We'll now rapidly run through the resolutions and vote on them at this meeting.
If you could just remind us of the operating rules. Yes, a quick word on the use of your voting devices. The device is strictly personal, and it holds the number of shares that you have. There are three keys: green for, yellow abstention, red against. 15 seconds to vote, after which you cannot change your vote. After the meeting, you're asked to return your devices as you leave. To avoid interference, please switch off your mobile phones during the voting process. The number of votes for the chairman. Powers to the chair represent 4,633,279. That's the same number of votes, 2.2%, in other words. Let's now vote on the resolutions.... First resolution, approval of the financial statements of the company for year ended December 31, 2023.
[Foreign language]
Sorry. If I could have the results on my screen, that would be great.
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Resolution's approved. Second resolution: approval of the consolidated statements for the year ended December 31, 2023. Please vote.
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Vote closed. Approved, 99.93%. Resolution three.
[Foreign language]
The percentage is indicated on the slide. Unfortunately, we can't hear the speaker in the audience.
[Foreign language
There are many votes by correspondents, as you know, at AGMs.
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What I suggest, we'll give you that at the end of the meeting resolution, the number of votes, but the information is the same as in previous years. We'll get the number of votes in addition to the adoption percentage. Resolution, appropriation of net income, setting of dividend for year ended December thirty-first, 2023. Please, vote.
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Vote closed. Approved, 99.99%. 4, special report of the auditors on the agreements in Articles 225 and following. Please, vote.
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Vote closed. Approved, 99.99%. Fifth, approval of disclosures required by Article 22, Compensation of Corporate Officers. Vote now.
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Vote closed. Approved, 93-17. Approval of the fixed, variable, exceptional compensation for Mr. Denis Kessler, as Chairman of the Board, January 1 to June 9, 2023. Please, vote.
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Vote closed. Approved, 95.83%. Seven, approval of fixed compensation to Mr. Fabrice Brégier, Chairman of the Board, as from June 25, 2023. Please, vote.
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Vote closed. Approved, 92.74%. 8, approval of items of compensation of Mr. Laurent Rousseau, as CEO from 1st to 25th of January 2023. Please, vote.
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Vote closed. Approved, 90%. Ninth, approval of items of compensation to Mr. François de Varenne, CEO from January 26th, April 30th. Please, vote.
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Vote closed. 95.3%. Tenth, approval of items of compensation paid to Thierry Léger, CEO, as from first of May 2023. Please, vote.
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Vote closed. Approved, 92-38. 11, approval of the compensation policy for directors in 2024. Vote open.
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Vote closed. Approved, 98.97%. Twelfth, approval of compensation policy for Chairman of the Board for 2024. Vote closed. Approved 91.56%. Thirteen, approval 2024 compensation policy for the CEO. Please vote.
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Vote closed, approved 90, 86, 48. 14, renewal of the term of Patricia Lacoste as director.
Approved.
Approved 98.14%. Fifteen, renewal of the term of office, Mr. Bruno Pfister as director of the company. Please vote.
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Vote closed, approved 91, 81%. 16, approval appointment of Mazars as audit responsible for auditing sustainability information. Vote open.
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Vote closed. Approved, 94.74%. Seventeen, appointment of KPMG as auditor responsible for auditing sustainability information. Vote open.
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Vote closed. Approval 99, 83%. 18, authorization granted to the board to carry out transaction in ordinary shares of the company. Vote open.
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Vote closed. Approval 97, 84%. Turning now to the extraordinary resolutions. 19, delegation granted to the board for the purpose of taking decision with respect to capital increases. Please vote.
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Vote closed. Approval 99.93%. 20, delegation of authority to the board for the purpose of deciding its shares with maintenance of preferential subscription rights. Please vote.
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No more voting. Approved 95, 67%. 21, delegation of authority to the board for the purpose of deciding to issue securities with deletion of preferential subscription rights. Please vote.
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Vote closed. 92, 22%. 22, delegation granted to the board for the purpose of deciding to issue securities with deletion of preferential subscription rights. Vote open.
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Vote closed. 79%. Twenty-third, delegation granted to the board for the purpose of deciding to issue shares, as consideration for securities tendered to public exchange and offer. Please vote.
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Vote closed. 96, 50%. 24, delegation of power granted to the board for the purpose of deciding to issue shares, securities, giving access to ordinary shares within a limited 10%. Please vote.
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Vote closed. 96.4%. 25, authorization granted for the purpose of increasing the number of shares to be issued in the case of a capital increase, with or without PSRs. Please vote.
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Vote closed. 89.07%. 26, delegation granted to the board for the purpose of issuing warrants exercisable for shares to put in place contingent capital program. Please vote.
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Vote closed. 92, 74%. Twenty-seven, delegation to the board for the purpose of issuing warrants exercisable for shares to put in place ancillary own funds program. Please vote.
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Vote closed. 92.75%. 28, authorization granted for the purpose of reducing the capital by canceling treasury shares. Please vote.
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Vote closed.
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All items on performance resolution on performance shares and options are not contained in the resolutions themselves, 29, 30, but all components are contained in the board's report and in information made available to shareholders.
[Foreign langugae]
That's noted. Thank you. So 29, authorization to the board to grant options to subscribe shares for employees and executive corporate officers. Vote open.
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Vote closed. Approved 98.08%. 30, authorization to the board for the purpose of granting existing ordinary shares to employees and executive corporate officers. Please vote.
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Vote closed. 93.99%. 31, delegation granted to the board in order to carry out a capital increase through the issuance of shares reserved for members of employee savings plans. Please vote.
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Vote closed. 99.27%. For thirty-second, aggregate ceiling on capital increases. Please vote. Vote closed. 94.91%. Thirty-third, final resolution powers to carry out formalities. Please vote.
[Foreign language]
Vote closed. 99.99%. Thank you. Well, thank you. Thank you for your patience. Sorry if we ran over by some 15 minutes. My thanks to all those of you who've attended these meetings, the presenters, our scrutineers. There being no further business on the agenda, the meeting is adjourned. Thank you.