An evolution of climate-related risk metrics for the financial services sector is currently underway. Among other things this evolution will help insurers to work towards understanding the challenges and eventually disclosing the carbon intensity of their underwriting portfolios. For now, we see that most of these metrics remain largely qualitative in nature.
This report summarises a range of options, methodologies and barriers for the carbon footprinting of insurance companies’ underwriting portfolios. It is important to note that this report does not recommend a “standard” for the insurance industry, but should be seen as an exploration of the different carbon footprinting methodologies that may be applied to underwriting portfolios and the barriers to applying them.