Insurance Development Forum (IDF) secretary general Ekhosuehi Iyahen has said the industry body will focus on implementing many of the initiatives unveiled during COP26 over the coming year.
COP26
New “threads” of underwriting and changes to processes will have to be implemented into professional liability coverages as ESG considerations become more established.
As COP26 discussions came to a close last week in Glasgow, Aon’s Emma Karhan believes the event has helped highlight the important role the insurance industry has to play in helping mobilise capital to address challenges posed by climate change.
Conduit Re executive chairman Neil Eckert has thrown his support behind the development of a universal approach to carbon scoring after acknowledging the challenges in assessing the carbon intensity of an underwriting portfolio.
Ahead of Lloyd’s piloting a measurement framework to monitor syndicates’ carbon underwriting, Lloyd’s chairman Bruce Carnegie-Brown said it will be “the single most important and difficult thing to do” given the enormous complexity of the task that lies ahead.
Liberty Specialty Markets’ (LSM) newly hired head of responsible business Denise Delaney believes the insurance industry must “retool” so models accurately reflect the climate change-impacted risk landscape, while also reducing its own emissions and updating the emissions measurement and disclosure frameworks within its insurance and investment portfolios.
COP26 will see the official launch of the Net-Zero Insurance Alliance (NZIA), which is geared towards bringing industry initiatives under one umbrella to help ensure that frameworks are consistent across industries and geographies.
Bringing in an academic perspective will be critical for the insurance sector as it reshapes its modelling tools to better reflect the risks and challenges presented by climate change, according to Liz Henderson, head of climate change analytics for Aon’s Reinsurance Solutions.
The insurance industry’s profile at COP26 will be significantly higher than at previous UN climate talks as finance increasingly takes centre stage in discussions.
The launch of a risk and resilience analytics partnership between the Insurance Development Forum (IDF) and the Vulnerable 20 (V20) ministers of finance at COP26 will represent a critical pillar in addressing the protection gap challenge, according to IDF secretary general Ekhosuehi Iyahen.
The Net Zero Insurance Alliance (NZIA) is to target brokers and other supporting industry institutions as it looks to add to its membership following its formal launch at the COP26 talks in Glasgow.
Credit and political risk broker BPL Global has partnered with carriers including Liberty Specialty Markets (LSM), Ascot and Aspen on the launch of a new company that will guarantee climate bonds issued on the London Stock Exchange.
Lloyd’s has been accused of “abandoning its ESG policy” over its failure to mandate the exclusion of new coal, tar sands and arctic energy projects in its recently issued guidance to the market.
The Hartford has committed to invest $2.5bn over the next five years in companies, technologies and funds which are advancing the energy transition in one of several sustainability initiatives announced by the carrier.
The Pacific Insurance and Climate Adaptation Programme (PICAP) has set out plans to expand beyond its initial pilot in Fiji to protect vulnerable communities in other island states in the region.
