SBTi Publishes A 'Net-Zero Insurance Standard' Industry Brief For Underwriting Portfolios

In December 2023, the SBTi (Science Based Targets initiative) published a 'net-zero insurance standard' industry brief for underwriting portfolios.

2023 saw considerable growth in corporate climate action, with companies taking steps to gather and report on emissions data against the backdrop of increasing mandatory climate reporting requirements. While this has helped pave the way for greater climate target setting and action, the landscape has been less clear for re/insurers, particularly as emissions from their value chain (Scope 3) are generally the largest source of emissions which include those within their insurance underwriting portfolios.

In November 2022, we saw the publication of the first global standard to measure and disclose emissions attributable to insurance underwriting portfolios, following collaboration between the Net-Zero Insurance Alliance ("NZIA") and the Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials ("PCAF"). This standard was then