In an effort to create a Financial Institutions Net-Zero Insurance Standard, the SBTi has released a new Insurance Underwriting Industry Brief.
The banking industry has a huge opportunity to speed up the private sector’s decarbonization efforts. Metrics and target-setting procedures for the lending and investment operations of the finance sector were created in 2020 by the Science Based Targets project (SBTi). Currently, its goal is to make it possible for financial organizations to decarbonize the portfolios they underwrite for insurance.
Re/insurers control a sizable portion of the worldwide assets and liabilities on their balance sheets, with over US$35 trillion in global assets under management (TheCityUK, 2023) and over US$6.8 trillion in premium volume (Switzerland Re Institute, 2023) among their holdings. This might put insurance firms in a position to encourage the transition necessary to establish a net-zero economy.
Insurance underwriters might lead the way in lowering greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in accordance with the Paris Agreement’s temperature targets by using their clout as risk managers, risk carriers, and institutional investors.
To begin the process of creating a Financial Institutions Net-Zero Insurance Standard, the SBTi has released a new Insurance Underwriting Industry Brief. Background information on several strategies and possible tactics for establishing science-based goals to decarbonize insurance underwriting portfolios is given in the Brief.