UN and insurers worldwide launch insurance principles at Rio+20 to promote sustainable development

Almost 30 insurance companies and insurance associations from different regions around the world, including Canada, have joined a UN-backed process to promote a set of Principles for Sustainable Insurance.

The initiative was announced at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development, known as Rio+20, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on June 20-22, 2012. The principles represent the first-ever global sustainability framework tailored for the insurance industry that takes into account the fundamental economic value of natural capital, social capital and good governance.

The four principles are intended to provide a holistic approach to managing a wide range of global and emerging risks in the insurance business — from climate change and natural disasters to water scarcity, food insecurity and pandemics.

Signatories agree to the following statements:

• We will embed in our decision-making environmental, social and governance issues relevant to our insurance business.

• We will work together with our clients and business partners to raise awareness of environmental, social and governance issues, manage risk and develop solutions.

• We will work together with governments, regulators and other key stakeholders to promote widespread action across society on environmental, social and governance issues.

• We will demonstrate accountability and transparency in regularly disclosing publicly our progress in implementing the principles.

Collectively, organizations supporting the principles have more than $5 trillion in assets and represent more than 10% of world premium volume. Signatories include Munich Re, Aviva, AXA, ING, RSA Insurance Group, SCOR, Swiss Re and The Co-operators Group. Signatory companies will publicly disclose their progress in implementing the Principles for Sustainable Insurance on an annual basis.

The Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction (ICLR) is an academic partner of the UN Environment Programme’s Finance Initiative (UNEP FI). The principles are the result of a six-year global development process carried out by UNEP FI, which in 2006 created a working group of leading insurers to study the impacts of a wide range of environmental, social and governance issues on the insurance business and sustainable development.

The UNEP FI’s Principles for Sustainable Insurance (PSI) document can be accessed here [PDF]:

http://www.unepfi.org/psi/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/PSI-document.pdf

And UNEP FI’s Principles for Sustainable Insurance (PSI) website found here:

http://www.unepfi.org/psi