Frankfurt, 2 July 2025—The United Nations-convened, multistakeholder Forum for Insurance Transition to Net Zero (FIT) launched today a first-of-its-kind transition plan guide tailored for insurance and reinsurance underwriting portfolios. This new deep-dive global guide was presented at the inaugural FIT Transition Insurance Summit hosted by the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) at their headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany.
“Underwriting the Transition” provides insurance market participants—specifically insurers, reinsurers and brokers—with a comprehensive and structured framework to help them develop and disclose credible transition plans for underwriting portfolios, addressing a significant gap in existing transition plan guidance for the insurance industry.
“This pioneering guide paves the way for insurers, reinsurers and brokers to move beyond high-level commitments by independently implementing robust and actionable strategies that enhance long-term business resilience and company value, and help achieve global sustainability goals,” said Butch Bacani, UNEP Head of Insurance and FIT Chair. By underwriting with foresight, and by accelerating and scaling up a just transition to a resilient net-zero economy, the insurance industry can lead with purpose and conviction in helping build inclusive, resilient and sustainable communities and economies, and reaffirm its role as society’s risk manager.”
“Underwriting the Transition” identifies key elements of a credible transition plan and provides a checklist to assess the credibility of a transition plan. Through real-world examples, the guide demonstrates how leading insurers, reinsurers and brokers are each implementing various concepts and approaches in their underwriting portfolios that support a just transition to a resilient net-zero economy, as shared in their published transition plans. Moreover, it helps insurance market participants navigate a complex and evolving landscape of sustainability disclosure and reporting.
It is the second deliverable of the FIT Transition Plan Project—a series of global guidance to address the current major gap in insurance-specific transition plan guidance. “Underwriting the Transition” builds on the FIT’s inaugural report, “Closing the Gap: The emerging global agenda of transition plans and the need for insurance-specific guidance”, which was launched at the 2024 UN Climate Conference (COP29) in Baku, Azerbaijan.
The third and final deliverable of the FIT Transition Plan Project will produce holistic, “total balance sheet” transition plan guidance that links the underwriting and investment portfolios of insurance and reinsurance companies. It is scheduled to be launched at the 2025 UN Climate Conference (COP30) in Belém, Brazil this November.
At the COP29 launch event of the FIT’s inaugural report, Dyogo Oliveira, President of the Brazilian Insurance Confederation (CNseg), announced that CNseg has joined the FIT, and that CNseg will build a “House of Insurance” at COP30 which will serve as the main platform for climate ambition and action by the global insurance industry.
“As COP30 approaches, we look forward to working together with the Brazilian insurance industry, the wider insurance, regulatory and supervisory community, and key stakeholders—from policymakers and real economy actors; to the scientific and academic community, and civil society—and to making the ‘House of Insurance’ a symbol of inclusiveness, resilience, sustainability, and hope,” said Bacani.
Established in April 2024, the FIT is a United Nations-led multistakeholder forum involving insurers, insurance regulators and supervisors, the scientific and academic community, civil society, and other key stakeholders to advance insurance strategies and practices that accelerate and scale up a just transition to a resilient net-zero economy. Chaired by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the FIT currently comprises over 50 organizations from across the globe.
Through the FIT, UNEP continues to deepen and strengthen its commitment to work with the global insurance industry and key stakeholders to support the acceleration and scaling up of a just transition to a resilient net-zero economy as part of the solution to the triple planetary crisis of climate change, nature loss, and pollution; and the vision of a resilient, sustainable, and prosperous future for all.
“Transition plans are becoming increasingly important for organisations aiming to strategically address the risks posed by climate change. The latest publication by the FIT fills an important gap in existing guidance on developing transition plans, providing a detailed resource for insurers and reinsurers to consider both their asset investments and underwriting activities when developing these plans.”—Sean Carmody, Executive Director, Policy & Advice. Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA)
“This initiative represents a crucial step forward in providing insurers with clear, actionable guidance to align their underwriting practices with global climate goals and a cleaner more resilient economy We applaud FIT’s collaborative approach, bringing together insurers, regulators, academics, and civil society to create industry-wide standards that will drive meaningful independent action to address climate risks.”— Steven Rothstein, Managing Director, Ceres Accelerator for Sustainable Capital Markets
“As a responsible insurer, our duty is to participate in the common effort to move towards a less carbon-intensive economy. This means sharing best practices and taking concrete, independent action in our areas of influence within the value chain, particularly in claims management, but also by working to adapt to climate change. Maintaining territorial insurability is a challenge that can be addressed by combining individual responsibility, prevention, and national solidarity“ —
Guillaume Oreckin, Deputy CEO, Crédit Agricole Assurances
“EIOPA welcomes this guidance provided by the FIT. While not directly responsible for the supervision of transition plans, EIOPA believes that plans are an important tool to demonstrate how companies plan to achieve net-zero emissions while ensuring long-term financial sustainability. Transition plans are also a very important source of information supporting the prudential assessment of sustainability risks. The FIT guidance should certainly help insurers to develop their transition strategies across all relevant steps of their business models” — Petra Hielkema, Chairperson, European Insurance & Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA)
“Fidelidade congratulates FIT for its multi-stakeholder engagement approach in uniting insurers, academia, regulators and civil society at large to develop this crucial guidance. Insurers have a pivotal role in supporting the urgent climate action that is needed for the world to reach net zero. Having a structured framework that adequately addresses underwriting portfolios fills a major gap in transition plan guidance for the insurance industry and is likely to catalyze more robust independent action from market participants.” — Rogério Henriques, CEO, Fidelidade
“This second deliverable offers the first sector-specific deep dive into transition planning for insurance underwriting — across primary insurance, reinsurance and brokerage. The Institut Louis Bachelier is pleased to contribute to filling this gap by advancing rigorous, science-based approaches tailored to the realities of the insurance sector.” — Jean-Michel Beacco, CEO of Institut Louis Bachelier
“ We, Ateliers du Futur, congratulate UNEP FIT Team for this spearhead project and the great job achieved so far. This “transition plan guide for insurance and reinsurance underwriting portfolios” is a groundbreaking framework that, in our view, brings all key components for a comprehensive approach of the complex insurance ecosystem. We are grateful for the opportunity to contribute during the last months and are looking forward to seeing market players adopt this robust, forward-looking approach as soon as possible. Climate permanently reminds us urgency is there! ”— Thierry Langreney, President, Les Ateliers du Futur
“Insurance companies have a critical and necessary role to play in supporting the just transition to a net zero emission economy. With the release of the UN FIT transition planning guide for insurance and reinsurance underwriting portfolios, insurers can and should undertake transition plans for both the investment and underwriting sides of their business, with meaningful individual commitments to transition both to net zero emissions” — Dave Jones, former California Insurance Commissioner & Director, Climate Risk Initiative, University of California Berkeley School of Law