Climate change: why insurers need a global reporting standard for their clients’ carbon emissions data to reach net zero
- ‘We cannot let data challenges stop us from taking action, otherwise the data is unlikely to ever improve,’ AXA’s group chief risk officer says
- The Net Zero Insurance Alliance is promoting standards for insurance-related carbon disclosures
The insurance industry needs a global standard for carbon-footprint disclosure, and insurers should treat the costs of calculating the emissions of their business exposure as “investments”, according to a leading player in the market.
The sector has just started a long journey to get its customers to provide accurate data on their carbon emissions, so that insurers can calculate their own exposure and take measures to reach their net-zero emission goals.
“The ongoing efforts at the global level are more than welcome to build a framework that will ensure access to reliable, robust, and comparable data,” Renaud Guidee, group chief risk officer at French insurer AXA told the Post. “Coherence and proper articulation between the different pieces of legislation and standards being developed is a major priority for us.”
AXA is one of eight founding members of the Net Zero Insurance Alliance. Established in 2021, it now has 30 members headquartered in Europe, Asia, Africa, Oceania and the Americas.
Each member has committed to set and disclose by July of this year its own interim targets, aligned with the group’s joint pledge to achieve net zero greenhouse-gas emissions by 2050.