Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL)
Disclosure – The ClimateWise Principles
The ClimateWise Principles have provided a framework for the insurance industry to disclose climate-related risks and opportunities since 2007.
All ClimateWise members report annually against the framework, and reports are independently reviewed, scored and anonymised in a combined report to form the ClimateWise Principles Independent Review.
2025 is the first year that the ClimateWise framework has formally assessed transition plans. This builds on a history of the framework adapting to new requirements. In 2018, the ClimateWise Principles were aligned to the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). In 2024, the Principles were updated to reflect a much wider range of requirements including the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD).
The ClimateWise Principles Independent Review for 2025 reveals momentum building on transition plans and a culture of continued improvement, with ClimateWise members achieving a 6% average score increase on a like-for-like basis compared to the previous year.
The report highlights the increasing capability of the insurance industry to build resilience, support the transition and drive meaningful action on climate change.
The 2024 ClimateWise Principles Independent Review reflects how the industry continues to adapt and challenge itself. The ambitious new set of Principles has seen the scores of ClimateWise members drop since 2023 and this reflects the higher bar created by the changing disclosure environment with a new and challenging baseline against which to measure progress in future years.
The report reveals the great strides members have made in considering new and emerging topics of nature and biodiversity, developing new tools and metrics, all while looking at actions to decarbonise their operations, investments, underwriting and supply chain.
We have witnessed a transformational shift in sustainability reporting across the insurance industry in recent years. There is no denying the scale of the effort required to move the dial from a landscape of significant disparity to today’s more aligned, ambitious reporting landscape. There is much more to do in the journey towards a Net Zero economy, but the robust foundations needed for insurance industry-wide sustainability action and reporting are now truly in place.
This report explores key trends in this year’s ClimateWise reporting cycle, the foundations that have been established for forward-looking sustainability action, priority topics for the coming year, and considerations ahead of the ClimateWise Principles update due in 2024.
In the face of profound environmental and geopolitical challenges, 2022 saw the highest ever number of members submitting a report against the ClimateWise Principles with a small improvement in the average score.
ClimateWise members recognise the importance of setting net-zero targets and introducing meaningful strategies to deliver the critical action needed on climate change. While progress has accelerated, the complex, systemic and immediate demands of the climate crisis require consistent improvement at pace from all stakeholders in the insurance industry, working individually and collectively to support a rapid and just transition to net zero.
The ClimateWise Principles Independent Review 2021 is the third year of reporting in full alignment with the Recommendations of the Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and suggests members are well prepared for the rollout of mandatory TCFD disclosure requirements.
The Review records an increase in average score - from 65 per cent in 2020 to 68 per cent in 2021 - for the ClimateWise group of organisations and highlights increased value chain collaboration to enhance understanding of climate risks and opportunities and enable net-zero objectives within and beyond the industry.
The ClimateWise Principles Independent Review 2020 shows member insurance industry firms have made significant progress in disclosing their preparedness and response to climate change.
The Review records a significant increase in average score - from 55 per cent in 2019 to 65 per cent in 2020 - for the ClimateWise group of organisations. The increase in group scores in 2020 has been predominantly driven by members demonstrating significant progress in the incorporation of climate change considerations into investment and underwriting strategies, high participation by members in climate stress tests and improvements made in the integration of climate risk into existing risk management frameworks.
With the higher bar, the combined group score has decreased from last year. The 2019 scores now offer ClimateWise members a new benchmark against which to measure leadership and support one another’s progress.
The ClimateWise Principles Independent Review 2018 finds the largest year-on-year improvement in group mean score against the Principles since 2014, and confirms the full alignment of its updated Principles with TCFD recommendations.
The greatest change in mean group score was the improvement in Principle 2 (Inform Public Policymaking). The insurance industry plays an important role in understanding the financial impacts society is likely to face as a result of climate change and so raising awareness of these issues is vital.
The ClimateWise Principles Independent Review 2017 finds that ClimateWise members continue to lead the way in responding to climate change, and continue to make steady progress. In 2017 the average scores increased from 50–60 per cent. One member reaching a new top score (under new marking criteria) of 91 per cent. The ClimateWise Principles have considerable overlap with the Financial Stability Board’s (FSB) Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosure (TCFD) and 2017 is the first year that the Principles have encouraged members to disclose against the TCFD recommendations by including its requirements in the scoring guidance (on an unscored basis initially).
The ClimateWise Principles Independent Review 2016 finds that ClimateWise members, on average, have continued to improve their scores for the second consecutive year. Four members have attained a score of over 80 per cent this year, compared with just one in 2015.
The reported activities, across all six of the ClimateWise Principles, demonstrate a commitment by members to play their part in supporting the low carbon, climate-resilient transition. They show year-on-year progress in integrating the risks and opportunities of climate change across their businesses yet highlight the need for the industry to do more within its investment activities.
The 2015 independent annual review of the six ClimateWise Principles shows improved scores for members of the insurance industry leadership group. Progressive insurance companies are considering their exposure to climate risks while also developing their role as societies' risk managers.
