Debeka is the largest private health insurers in Germany. They were founded in 1905 as a cooperative mutual insurance association, and today they still belong to their members and customers, not to stakeholders. This setup allows them to focus on solidarity and mutual help, not profits, in all of their operations. In 2025, Debeka launched a pilot with Clarity AI to implement a Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) Double Materiality Assessment (DMA) solution to help them verify and improve their whole DMA process for the investment side.
The Opportunity
The Solution
The Results
Sustainability and Risk Management Challenges
Debeka has long prioritized independence and responsibility as core values. Today, sustainability is an essential part of that foundation. ESG criteria are fully integrated into their investment decision-making process, and the organization has set a long-term goal to be emission-free by 2050, aligned with the targets established by the German Insurance Association (GDV). Therefore, Debeka has implemented a transition plan.
Alexander Schaaf, employee (Referent) in the Risk Management department, is leading these efforts. In June 2025, he formally took responsibility for integrating ESG into Debeka’s Risk Management.
“We see sustainability as a key part of our business at Debeka. Our goal is to not only meet regulatory expectations but to create a strategic advantage through our ESG approach.”
Addressing a Lack of Quantitative, Comparable Data
One of Alexander’s biggest challenges in his role is the lack of reliable, comparable ESG data to support fact-based decision-making and align with fast-evolving regulatory requirements. He had hoped the rollout of CSRD would significantly improve data availability, but this has not yet materialized. Many platforms still fall short of what’s needed, offering limited coverage and inconsistent methodologies that make it difficult to assess materiality with confidence.
To explore a better approach, Debeka partnered with Clarity AI on a pilot project focused on CSRD-aligned Double Materiality Assessment. The two teams worked closely to develop a tailored solution based on Debeka’s feedback, allowing for a more quantitative and transparent method to assess impact and financial materiality.
Meeting Ambitious Targets is Easier with Clarity AI
Empowered by Clarity AI’s solutions, Alexander was able to tackle two key challenges: data quality and availability, and balancing a strong portfolio with ESG goals.
CHALLENGE 1
Data Quality and Availability
Lack of high-quality, quantitative ESG data remains a core challenge across the industry. For Debeka, this is particularly pressing as they more and more prioritize topics like biodiversity. According to Alexander, many data providers offer only limited and inconsistent data points, often with coverage ratios, which can’t be used for reasonable decision making.
In addition, most platforms rely heavily on qualitative judgments and sector-level interpretations, which don’t provide the specificity Debeka needs. As a well-diversified investor, Debeka requires a more granular view to determine which ESG topics are truly material to them. A binary “yes or no” approach solely at the industry level doesn’t provide the nuance needed to support fact-based decisions.
“Clarity AI’s CSRD-aligned Double Materiality Assessment solution gave us a more data-driven way to quantify impacts and risks at the company level and helped us assess materiality with greater confidence.“
Alexander appreciated that Clarity AI’s approach allowed him to quantify the impacts and risks of individual companies and sectors. This gave him a clearer, more structured way to conduct a double materiality assessment using data, rather than relying solely on qualitative judgments.
CHALLENGE 2
Balancing a Strong Portfolio with ESG Goals
A core priority for Debeka is maintaining a strong and resilient investment portfolio. One that is not only diverse and balanced but also aligned with evolving ESG standards and protected against climate-related and regulatory risks.
For Debeka, ESG is not just about avoiding negative outcomes. It’s also about enabling positive impact through investment decisions. Rather than relying solely on exclusions, Debeka aims to support the transformation of companies within its portfolio. This approach adds complexity, especially when combined with existing investment guidelines.
“Especially during our preparation for the CSRD, we realized how hard it is to make fact-based decisions on what topics are material for us as an investor. Also, it is difficult to stay up to date with the ever-changing regulatory requirements.”
Clarity AI helped address this by providing company-level data, including detailed background information and a materiality rating system that scored topics on a scale from 1 to 5. This provided more nuance than a simple “relevant or not” assessment and included explanations of how each score was calculated, enabling more informed, data-driven decisions.
This level of detail was especially important for Debeka as a highly diversified investor, where nearly any ESG topic could be material depending on the sector. Other tools lacked the quantitative transparency to help determine what truly mattered. With Clarity AI, Alexander and his team gained the insights they needed not only to understand materiality decisions, but also the rationale behind them.
He also appreciated the transparency in Clarity AI’s controversies and exposures data, which allowed him to see exactly where company-level information came from.
Positioning for Long-Term Sustainability Success
Through the pilot, Debeka gained access to a more data-driven and transparent approach to double materiality. The solution provided greater clarity, flexibility, and depth than their existing tools. With company-level insights, clear explanations of how materiality scores are calculated, and the ability to assess topics across a diversified portfolio, Debeka was able to strengthen its CSRD reporting process. The pilot also offered a valuable opportunity to explore how advanced ESG analytics can support long-term investment goals and risk management strategies.