Feb 22, 2019

Insurance Supervisors Launch Global Survey on the Implementation of the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures by Insurance Companies

Insurance Supervisors Launch Global Survey on the Implementation of the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures by Insurance Companies

London/Geneva:

The Sustainable Insurance Forum (SIF), a global leadership of insurance supervisors working on climate change issues, has launched a global survey on the Implementation of the Recommendations and Guidance of the Financial Stability Board (FSB) Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). The survey is the first globally-coordinated effort by supervisors and regulators to gather information on insurers’ awareness and understanding of climate risks, and levels of uptake and implementation of the TCFD recommendations, across jurisdictions.

Speaking at an insurance industry event on climate change hosted by ClimateWise in London, SIF Chairperson Geoff Summerhayes said, “By implementing the recommendations of the TCFD, companies are committing to identify, assess, manage and publicly disclose their climate risks. Rather than economic factors being a barrier to taking action on climate change, far-sighted business leaders recognize that economic factors make such actions imperative.”

The concept of a global survey was initiated at the November 2018 annual conference of the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS), when the Chair of the IAIS Executive Committee requested the SIF to work with the IAIS to develop an Issues Paper on TCFD Implementation for the insurance sector. The results of the SIF survey on TCFD Implementation will be a foundational component of this forthcoming paper, complementing other sources of information and data on best practice – including from market leadership coalitions, like the UN Principles for Sustainable Insurance (PSI).

The survey is now being implemented by supervisors in different jurisdictions, with the collection of results targeted for end-April 2019.