News Room

The inaugural report of the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) Insurance Working Group was launched in May 2007, entitled Insuring for Sustainability. The report charts the findings of a specialist UN working group concerned with the analysis of sustainability issues, including Climate Change, with reference to the insurance industry.

HSBC Insurance Brokers are the only broking firm represented in this group which consists of members such as Lloyd's, Allianz, AIG, AXA and Munich Re.

Strategic findings emphasised the need to look at a number of areas in order to develop sustainable insurance markets

• More thorough understanding of risk and effective risk management;
• Innovative use of IT to pinpoint risk in order to assess and measure risk more accurately;
• Create effective partnerships across all geographies using market appropriate distribution;
• Improve administration to provide more effective claims handling in times of disaster and emergency;
• Develop efficient private/public partnership models to share best practice and ensure that insurance for sustainability can be developed without creating barriers or removing operational efficiency in the public sector.

This report has a global reach and is seen as a milestone for the insurance industry in understanding how to respond positively to major sustainability risk issues such as climate change, and underscores the crucial role the insurance industry can play in making sustainability a reality.

©Jun Ogawa / WWI / Still Pictures. Kyoto, Japan. Bamboo grove.