Global: UN collaborates with major insurers on climate risk-assessment tools
Source: Asia Insurance Review | Jan 2019
Global Nat CAT Risk Management
The UN Environment’s Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) has announced a partnership with 16 of the world’s largest insurers to develop a new generation of risk-assessment tools which aim to enable the insurance industry to understand the impacts of climate change on their business better.
The leading insurers that will work together with the UN are all signatories to UNEP FI’s principles for sustainable insurance, a global best-practice sustainability framework and the largest collaborative initiative between the UN and the insurance industry.
This ‘Insurer Group’ includes: Allianz (Germany), AXA (France), IAG (Australia), Intact Financial Corporation (Canada), Länsförsäkringar Sak (Sweden), MAPFRE (Spain), MS&AD (Japan), Munich Re (Germany), NN Group (Netherlands), QBE (Australia), Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Japan), Storebrand (Norway), Swiss Re (Switzerland), TD Insurance (Canada), The Co-operators (Canada), and Tokio Marine & Nichido (Japan).
The pilot group, which represents around 10% of world premium and $5tn in assets under management, will develop analytical tools that they will use to pioneer insurance industry climate risk disclosures that are in line with the recommendations of the Financial Stability Board’s task force on climate-related financial disclosures. This will require them to make use of the latest climate science, including some of the most advanced, forward-looking climate scenarios available.
While insurers themselves are also major investors - with global assets under management of over $30tn - the initiative will focus on the assessment of climate risks in their core insurance portfolios and products. A