17 December 2019 – The ClimateWise Principles Independent Review for 2019 is a milestone for ClimateWise members, representing the first year of reporting in full alignment with the Recommendations of the Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD).
About
The ClimateWise Principles have provided a framework for the insurance industry to disclose climate-related risk and opportunity since 2007. All ClimateWise members report annually against this framework. Reports are independently reviewed, scored and anonymised in a combined report to form the ClimateWise Principles Independent Review.
In 2018, in response to the release of the TCFD Recommendations, the framework was fully aligned to the Recommendations whilst retaining the closely held values of the ClimateWise membership to inform policy and raise public awareness of climate change. The updated ClimateWise Principles reflect the ambition of members to be accountable on their climate response and support the wider insurance industry to follow suit
Findings
In line with the increased ambition of the updated ClimateWise Principles, the mean group score has fallen from 66 per cent in 2018 to 51 per cent in 2019. The scores provide ClimateWise members with a new benchmark against which to measure leadership and future progress.
The independent review reveals sector leadership by ClimateWise members in climate-related engagement activities and in initiatives to influence policy. Members are also demonstrating strong corporate accountability on climate issues. The review highlights the need for wider adoption of scenario analysis to assess financial and strategic resilience to climate-related risks and the need to incorporate financially oriented metrics and targets.
Citing this review
Please refer to this review as University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL). (2019). The ClimateWise Principles Independent Review 2019. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership.
