This joint project by the PSI Initiative and the UNEP Inquiry into the Design of a Sustainable Financial System seeks to understand the links between insurance policy and regulation and sustainable development. The launch of a global consultation process was announced at the inaugural PSI market event in London in June 2014. Since then, meetings have been held in Brazil, China, India, Switzerland, Canada, the US, South Africa and the Philippines, with inputs from insurers, insurance regulators, insurance associations, and key stakeholders (e.g. governments, NGOs, industry associations, academia). Furthermore, written input from PSI members around the world is being solicited. From this global consultation would emerge a strategic approach on how the “rules of the game” that govern the insurance industry–norms, policies, principles, regulations, incentives and standards–could better support sustainable development.
The global consultation document asks questions about current sustainable development priorities and practices in the insurance industry, approaches to integrating sustainable development into insurance policy and regulation, and opportunities for innovation and collaboration.
Key inputs and insights obtained via the global consultation will be captured in a PSI-UNEP Inquiry synthesis paper. This paper will be featured at a landmark event in May at the Swiss Re Global Centre for Dialogue in Rüschlikon, Switzerland. The event will convene insurance company CEOs and other senior executives, insurance regulators and key stakeholders to discuss how the insurance industry can exercise leadership in developing strategies and actions that support policy coherence and the UN’s sustainable development agenda. Moreover, the synthesis paper would serve as the insurance industry pillar of the UNEP Inquiry’s final report in 2015, which would span the financial system (banking, insurance and investment).