UN urges global insurance industry to invest in climate programs for net zero carbon emissions

London/New York, June 8 – The United Nations is calling on the global insurance industry, which controls over US$ 35 trillion in assets under management, to align its investments and porfolios with programs aimed at achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

The call by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was delivered to the Insurance Development Forum (IDF) as it closed its June 7-8 meeting in London. IDF is a public-private partnership led by the insurance industry and supported by international organizations.

The finance ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States, the world’s seven most advanced countries known as G7 were also meeting in London. A summit of G7 leaders is to take place in London June 11.

“I am pleased to close this year’s Insurance Development Forum, which provides industry and development actors a platform to promote the transformation we need for a sustainable future for all on a healthy planet,” Guterres said in remarks to the concluding forum. “We are in a race against time to adapt to a rapidly changing climate.”

“Your investments should not be contributing to climate pollution but should be directed towards climate solutions,” he said. “Invest in renewables, low- and zero-carbon transport and climate resilient infrastructure.”

He said some 20 insurance companies that are asset owners have joined the Net Zero Asset Owner Alliance in 2019. He said the Alliance is a gold standard setting credible and transparent targets and timelines to back the net zero pledges made by its members.

Guterres said the world is facing three imperatives to address the climate crisis: achieve global carbon neutrality by 2050, align global finance behind the Paris Agreement and deliver a breakthrough on adaptation to protect the world from climate impacts.

“We need net zero commitments to cover your underwriting portfolios, and this should include the underwriting of coal — and all fossil fuels,” Guterres said, adding that the upcoming international conference on climate change known as COP 26 in Glasgow in November “must signal the end of coal.”

“I support the G7 commitment to end all public international support for coal by the end of this year,” he said.

(Explanations provided by Wikipedia): Carbon neutrality refers to achieving net-zero carbon dioxide emissions. This can be done by balancing emissions of carbon dioxide with its removal (often through carbon offsetting) or by eliminating emissions from society (the transition to the “post-carbon economy”). It is used in the context of carbon dioxide-releasing processes associated with transportation, energy production, agriculture, and industry.

Although the term “carbon neutral” is used, a carbon footprint also includes other greenhouse gases, usually carbon-based, measured in terms of their carbon dioxide equivalence. The term climate-neutral reflects the broader inclusiveness of other greenhouse gases in climate change, even if CO₂ is the most abundant. The term “net zero” is increasingly used to describe a broader and more comprehensive commitment to decarbonization and climate action, moving beyond carbon neutrality by including more activities under the scope of indirect emissions, and often including a science-based target on emissions reduction, as opposed to relying solely on offsetting.

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