Quantifying underwriting and operations sustainability impact is about “future proofing” business. From managing performance for business optimisation and financial resilience; to managing exposures to thrive as financial institutions; and enabling compliance with a growing set of stakeholder expectations around sustainability.
The insurance industry is on a sustainability journey: from ESG risk management to full business impact Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) quantification. Sustainability 1.0 started us on this journey, focused on avoiding key sustainability risks that businesses faced. Sustainability 2.0 saw the start of qualitive risk management through industry bodies and ESG criteria to measure those risks – but no standard was set. Now we are moving to Sustainability 3.0, where quantifying comprehensive impact is key.
Swiss Re is leading an industry effort to quantify sustainability impact in insurance. In 2020, Swiss Re’s CEO along with other insurance CEOs and the UNEP Principles for Sustainable Insurance (PSI) set a programme in motion to develop SDG goals for the insurance industry: the iSDGs. Swiss Re Institute is developed the Insurance SDG Calculator to help (re)insurers measure sustainability impact, make informed business decisions, and report according to the iSDGs.
Working with ICMIF and ICMIF members, Swiss Re co-developed the ICMIF-calibrated Insurance SDG Calculator, a tool that is pioneering underwriting and operations iSDG impact quantification and assessment. The commitment framework enables ICMIF mutuals and cooperatives to assess their sustainability impact against a set of ICMIF-calibrated indicators that reflect mutual values and strategic focal areas, such as risk prevention and inclusive insurance.
The ICMIF-calibrated Insurance SDG Calculator will help provide ICMIF members an effective way to identify risks and opportunity, and to support strategies toward sustainable business. ICMIF members are invited to use the tool to create a company score to establish a baseline and then track yearly progress. Through the ICMIF SDG Working Group, participating entities will be able to benchmark sustainability impact, better collaborate, and redefine the framework through better data, metrics and definitions.
