Climate Hub

Tokio Marine Group has announced that it achieved carbon neutrality across its overall business activities in FY23 for the 11th eleventh consecutive year.

Zurich has set an interim target to reduce the intensity of insurance-associated emissions in its large corporate customer portfolio by 20 percent between 2022 and 2030.

The Lloyd’s Market Association (LMA) and the International Underwriting Association (IUA) have partnered to launch a new data standard for underwriters when collecting sustainability data from clients.

(Re)insurers have been recommended to disclose their exposure to sectors with material nature-related risks and to sensitive locations, stated either as a percentage of GWP or as total sums insured, in the final guidance issued by the Task Force on Nature-Related Financial Disclosures (TNFD).

Broker Aon has developed a bespoke insurance product to cover the risk of reservoir integrity in carbon capture and storage projects.

CFC has expanded its carbon insurance solutions suite to offer carbon cancellation insurance against the risk that a carbon credit is cancelled or invalidated.

Gallagher Specialty has introduced a carbon insurance solutions service to help clients mitigate risks associated with decarbonisation initiatives.

More than one-third of brokers have developed a plan to achieve net-zero emissions or are already implementing one, according to new research by Aviva, with those yet to do so citing cost as the most significant barrier.

With several carbon insurance products announced in recent months, distinct product offerings are beginning to take shape.

Members of the Poseidon Principles for Marine Insurance (PPMI) have unanimously agreed to align with the International Maritime Organization (IMO)’s revised target to achieve net-zero by 2050.

Climate activists have disrupted the British Insurance Brokers' Association’s (Biba) annual conference in Manchester, urging the sector to stop (re)insuring oil and gas projects such as the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP).

Aon has developed an insurance product for international transport and storage companies engaged in carbon capture and storage (CCS).

Oka has entered an agreement with carbon solutions platform Clima in a deal which will extend the carbon credit insurance start-up’s offering in Australia.

A recent flurry of activity in the carbon credit insurance market has presaged the next stage in the evolution of the voluntary carbon market (VCM), according to Oka CEO Chris Slater, although it remains far off the ability to develop tailored coverage by developer, country or project type due to the lack of capital investment at scale.

Axa has topped a ranking of 29 global P&C insurers for underwriting and investment policies across climate, biodiversity and social issues, with nonprofit ShareAction slamming Lloyd’s managing agents’ performance as “particularly poor”.

Environmental campaign group Insure Our Future has called on AIG, Tokio Marine and Hiscox to follow in the footsteps of Zurich by introducing underwriting restrictions on new oil and gas extraction, including the expansion of metallurgical coal projects.

Zurich is set to introduce fresh fossil fuel restrictions that will see the Mario Greco-led carrier cease underwriting new oil and gas extraction, as well as the expansion of metallurgical coal, projects in what would be a major shift in policy.

Lloyd’s has concluded the consultation on the Corporation’s roadmap for insuring the low-carbon transition over the next three years and is now looking to finalise the roadmap to provide support to underwriting and product development.

Switzerland-based start-up CarbonPool has set out plans to establish a fully fledged carrier that uses carbon as its balance sheet.

Tokio Marine Holdings has revised the underwriting, investment and financing policies within its group climate strategy to potentially exclude 60 companies in heavy-emitting sectors if they do not provide a transition plan.

At the beginning of 2024 Sustainable Insurer outlined five key themes for the year ahead, centred around the adaptation and resilience agenda and the increasing complexity of ESG regulations.

Reciprocal exchanges could help build sustainable community-based catastrophe insurance programs, according to Guy Carpenter's Guillermo Franco.

The government of Norway has announced a NOK50mn ($4.5mn) partnership with African Risk Capacity (ARC) to expand African governments' use of parametric insurance.

CelsiusPro is working to increase the private sector risk capacity matched to the Natural Disaster Fund (NDF), a government-backed parametric risk capacity pool, the company's head of climate resilience solutions Kay Tuschen said at the Building Bridges conference in Geneva.

The Microinsurance Network plans to replicate its regional coordination across Latin America in Africa, as the NGO pursues further regionalisation under the stewardship of new executive director Matthew Genazzini to boost insurance take-up among low-income communities.

The role P&C insurance companies play in supporting economic and social development can help underpin sustainability strategies, according to Tokio Marine’s Mika Nabeshima.

Sustainable Insurer spoke to Howden’s Daniel Fairweather about the important role insurers can play in helping realise the value of nature-based assets.

With COP29 having concluded at the weekend, Sustainable Insurer reflects on the discussions that took place over the past two weeks in Baku and the burgeoning role of (re)insurance in the global dialogue on climate.

The UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) has formed a network of corporate chief resilience officers with the aim to embed disaster resilience into businesses.

As COP29 prepares for its second week in Baku, Azerbaijan, Sustainable Insurer reflects on discussions so far and what more needs to be done to elevate the role of (re)insurance in global dialogue.

The African Risk Capacity (ARC), UN World Food Programme (WFP) and African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) launched the Africa Disaster Risk Management and Recovery Platform at the COP29 climate conference on Friday 15 November.

Tokio Marine Group has been named as the inaugural underwriting partner for the new resilience finance taskforce unveiled at the U20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro.

WTW has confirmed the renewal of the Pacific Catastrophe Risk Insurance Company (PCRIC)’s portfolio of policies for six governments and affiliated entities across the region.

It is becoming more challenging for governments to choose between the available financial instruments for disaster risk, which include parametric insurance, catastrophe bonds, contingent financing and debt clauses, according to the Centre for Disaster Protection (CDP).

Global food systems and the carbon markets present the most lucrative opportunities for the insurance sector to drive a “step change” in private capital flows for nature, a new report by Howden has said.

Lloyd’s has unveiled a new vehicle in partnership with the UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) and Aon to deliver disaster risk financing to small island developing states in the Pacific, with plans to expand the programme throughout the region and in the Caribbean.

The International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) has highlighted climate change, digital innovation and building resilience as key pillars of its latest strategic plan, which will run to 2029.

The Insurance Development Forum has appointed Karina Whalley, head of public sector at Axa Climate, and Ruth Lux, head of public sector IMEA at Guy Carpenter, as private sector co-chairs of its sovereign and humanitarian solutions (SHS) working group.

Axa Climate has continued to announce several renewals among its suite of nature-based insurance projects for mangrove restoration and marine ecosystem protection.

Typhoon Yagi has caused the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies’ Disaster Response Emergency Fund (IFRC-DREF) insurance policy to be triggered for the first time.