Stigende klimarisiko har allerede været på forsikringsselskabernes dagsorden i mange år. Alligevel lader det til, at det først er i de seneste måneder, at selskaberne haster med at handle herefter. Robeco forsøger i en ny artikel at forklare, hvad der ligger til grund for dette skift.
Robeco giver blandt andet udtryk for, at EU-kommissionens krav om, at de institutionelle investorer bør have en bæredygtig ramme, har været med til at påvirke denne ændring positivt. Hertil skriver de:
“In Europe, for example, regulatory changes remained a key focus of attention. The continued low yield environment and the search for better-yielding asset classes, was also a major concern. This fundamentally changed around two years ago, when the European Commission told insurers and other institutional investors that they needed to have a sustainability framework in place.”
Herudover mener Robeco, at Covid-19, til sin store overraskelse, ligeledes har skubbet selskaberne i en mere bæredygtig retning, hvortil de skriver:
“The economic consequences of Covid-19 and their impact on financial markets have had a significant impact on the balance sheets of insurance companies, but it has not changed their commitment to sustainability. On the contrary, the crisis appears to have boosted the industry’s focus on sustainability. For them, sustainability is about improving the stability of returns, the diversification of portfolios and increased downside protection.”
Afslutningsvist kommenteres der på, hvordan den politiske diskurs både i EU og i Japan har påvirket ikke blot kunderne men også de institutionelle investorer:
“Meanwhile, policy makers have not eased the pressure. On the specific aspect of climate risk, for example, we’ve seen a number of important announcements, such as the European commission and Japan’s pledges for greenhouse gas emissions neutrality by 2050. And one powerful way to help achieve these goals, is to encourage institutional investors, including insurers, to become carbon neutral.”
En længerevarende proces
På trods af at vi ser en positiv udvikling, er det værd at bemærke, at dette er en ændring der ikke sker over natten. Robeco mener derfor, at det endelige resultat af forsikringsselskabernes nye initiativer først er til at bemærke i 2025:
Investors are currently making commitments and working on the roadmaps to this transition. This is all a staged journey. Most insurers we speak to are thinking in five-year steps. So, they are now defining a goal for 2025 and how to get there. This could be, for example, reducing the carbon footprint of their portfolios by 20% to 25% over the next five years.”
Læs mere, om eksperternes synspunkt her:
