Committed to a brighter future: Nationwide's 2023 Corporate Sustainability Report

Mark Howard: For many years, Nationwide has proudly declared itself as More Than A Business®. This means we go beyond protecting our members with insurance and financial services. We actively seek to enhance environmental, economic and social conditions for both our customers and communities.

We invest our time, talents and resources into organizations and commitments that align with our values and reinforce our mission to protect people, businesses and futures with extraordinary care.

Our corporate sustainability efforts focus on four key pillars, which have been core to our company throughout its history.

Jayme Smoot: One opportunity is staying focused on mitigating and responding to climate risk based on extreme weather events.

We can positively impact our members and communities by helping them better prepare for this risk. A few ongoing initiatives that we continue to prioritize include:

1. Advocating for stricter building standards. We work with local and national representatives to make homes stronger and more resilient against climate-related weather. We also partner with associations that aim to decrease the impact of events related to climate risk, including the National Fire Protection Association, Wildfire Defense Systems and the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety.
2. Helping to fund agricultural innovation. Nationwide has been a long-term partner and collaborator with The Ohio State University (OSU) to help keep abreast of the latest research regarding climate risk. In 2022, our collaboration with OSU led to the creation of the AgTech Innovation Hub, which seeks to develop new solutions to help the agricultural ecosystem while better understanding, managing and mitigating climate risk.
3. Educating members on loss prevention. Nationwide supports members through education, referrals and vendor discounts on services that help prevent losses from occurring. One example of how we do this is by endorsing roof replacement companies that abide by stringent building requirements, resulting in a more weatherproof roof.

A second opportunity for us is positively impacting the housing crisis.

The communities where we live and work are grappling with a pressing housing crisis, marked by a severe shortage of affordable housing, particularly affecting lower-income households, renters and individuals from diverse racial backgrounds. Today’s young adults encounter greater challenges to homeownership compared with previous generations.

Nationwide and the Nationwide Foundation are taking a comprehensive approach to the housing crisis facing our communities. In 2023, the Nationwide Foundation made significant philanthropic contributions to a wide range of nonprofit organizations providing emergency shelter, permanent supportive housing, and affordable housing services and opportunities. We’ll continue to engage in the critical needs of our communities through partnerships and investments.

Mark Howard: After accelerating our company’s facilities strategy in response to the pandemic and adapting to the evolving needs of our workforce, we’ve made thoughtful decisions on how we repurpose our offices, with sustainability top of mind.

In 2022, Nationwide partnered with United Way of Central Ohio to repurpose our North Front Street building in a meaningful way by facilitating the use of quality office space for a number of local nonprofit organizations. This initiative met community needs while contributing to downtown’s vitality.

Nationwide also sold one of its buildings in Iowa to the city of Des Moines for use as a new center for centralized city services in late 2023.

With fewer buildings and increased remote and hybrid work, we’re also proud that we quickly and significantly reduced our carbon footprint, waste, water usage and printing.

The economy has also influenced product innovation at Nationwide to support our members’ future well-being. One great example is Nationwide’s Land As Your Legacy® program.

Through this program, Nationwide aims to ensure the longevity of farms and farming communities by helping farmers and ranchers establish a solid financial plan for the future. Designed to navigate unexpected, complex challenges, this program provides holistic planning and strategic support. Nationwide’s team partners with financial, legal and tax professionals to help develop transition plans. The impact extends beyond individual farms, contributing to the resilience of entire communities. The program currently protects $1.2 billion in farm assets for nearly 150 farm and ranch families.

Jayme Smoot: While we have strategic sponsorships and relationships that impact communities across the country, our major locations benefit significantly from our associate giving and volunteerism, including the work of our Associate Resource Groups, which advances diversity, equity and inclusion within our workforce and communities.

Associate giving and volunteerism efforts focus on important priorities such as food security, crisis stability, social and economic empowerment, and children’s well-being.

Additionally, the Nationwide Foundation has contributed over $670 million since 2000 to support nonprofit organizations in the communities where Nationwide operates.

Mark Howard: We continued our tradition of meaningful impact on our communities, society and the environment through existing and new partnerships.

One new partnership is with The Nature Conservancy, which works to protect the ecosystems, species and natural resources that people rely on. This is a new and developing relationship we’re excited to continue building in the coming years. For example, we work together to promote wildfire prevention strategies benefiting communities at risk.

We responded to new and proposed sustainability regulations and continued to prepare for what’s next.

We produced our second Task Force on Climate Risk Financial Disclosure report in 2023, which follows a governance framework for how companies disclose critical climate-related financial information.

We continue to assess the potential impact of climate risk on our operations, underwriting practices and investment portfolios, and are utilizing our governance structure to manage them effectively.

Our efforts reflect who we are and our mission to protect people, businesses and futures with extraordinary care.