Underwriting our planet
How insurers can help address climate change and biodiversity loss
The climate and biodiversity crises are posing significant challenges to the insurance sector. In response, insurance companies have started implementing risk mitigation and resilience efforts. However, to effectively address the root causes of climate change and nature loss, more sustainable insurance solutions are needed.
This global report, jointly written together with WWF, outlines the most important actions that insurance companies should take to fulfil their responsibilities and contribute to global climate and biodiversity goals through their underwriting business.
This report entitled, Underwriting our planet: how insurers can help address the crises in climate and biodiversity, aims to shed light on the positive and negative links between insurance underwriting and climate change and biodiversity loss. It discusses the association of insurance activities with the five most important drivers of biodiversity loss. The report looks at how specific underwriting practices interact with such drivers and describes current strategies to mitigate the harmful and amplify the helpful using real-world examples of potential products and actions that insurers can undertake.
Building on established literature and interviews with subject matter experts, the report covers a wide range of non-life insurance and reinsurance fields, such as liability insurance, marine and vehicle insurance, or property insurance with practical examples from various insurance companies around the world.
The report is primarily aimed at insurance companies, but is also relevant for policy makers, insurance regulators and supervisors, as it provides recommendations on how the insurance sector can support global climate and biodiversity goals by aligning insurance regulation, policies and supervision as part of their transition planning towards a net zero, nature positive economy.
