There is a growing recognition of the pivotal role insurance can play in a nature positive future. Insurance can facilitate capital transfer to nature positive activities and support increased resilience of ecosystems and communities.

Over the past decade, Principles for Sustainable Insurance Initiative (PSI) has undertaken many projects to address nature-related risks—from tackling illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing, environmental pollution liability, plastic pollution and high-impact hydropower projects; to protecting UNESCO World Heritage Sites and building climate resilience by protecting ecosystems such as coral reefs and mangrove forests. This work culminated in the agenda-setting PSI Nature-Positive Insurance Series in 2021 co-organised by the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, as well as the development of the first-ever environmental, social and governance (ESG) guides for non-life insurance (2020) and life & health insurance (2022) produced by the PSI.

What is Nature-Positive Insurance?

Nature-positive insurance (NPI) can be defined as risk management and insurance strategies, approaches, practices, products, services and solutions that address nature-related dependencies, impacts, risks and opportunities in order to value, conserve, restore and wisely use biodiversity and ecosystem services; and to promote economic, social and environmental sustainability. NPI aims to actively contribute to achieving the mission of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework to halt and reverse nature loss by 2030, and its vision of a world living in harmony with nature by 2050.

PSI Work on Nature-Positive Insurance

In September 2023 the PSI published a briefing paper entitled “Nature-Positive Insurance: Evolving Thinking and Practices” which endorsed the need for a collective roadmap for the insurance sector to develop skills and capacity on nature through a collaborative working group.

Building on that recommendation, the PSI has formed a Nature-Positive Insurance (NPI) Working Group. The working group will act as a platform for knowledge sharing and capacity building and will engage with a variety of key stakeholders for the insurance sector. The working group will focus on the advancement of insurance-relevant approaches and creation of tailored guidance for the insurance sector on nature that will support PSI members in i) in building capacity on nature-related risk assessments and disclosures (TNFD) in the context of insurance activities and ii) in their understanding of the role insurance can play in contributing to the goals of the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF).

The resources developed by the PSI Nature-Positive Insurance Working Group will be available to all PSI members. For more information on the PSI’s work on nature-positive insurance please contact: Verena Kraus, Senior Manager – UNEP FI Nature Capacity Building and Insurance.

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