This latest report from the Forum for Insurance Transition to Net Zero (FIT) is a first-of-its-kind transition plan guide tailored for insurance and reinsurance underwriting portfolios.

“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.

The guide 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.

The report 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.