Chaucer signs up to UN Principles for Sustainable Insurance

Chaucer has signed up to the UN Principles for Sustainable Insurance (PSI). The insurer has already committed to becoming net zero by 2050 and carbon neutral by 2030 or sooner.

John Fowle, chief executive officer at Chaucer, said: “Chaucer is proud to be a signatory of the UN Principles for Sustainable Insurance, which provide a global framework for the insurance industry to address environmental, social and governance risks and opportunities. The framework plays a key role in ensuring all signatories are held to account and deliver the four PSI principles, including meeting net-zero targets.”

He added: “Becoming a signatory reaffirms Chaucer’s commitment to playing a leading role in accelerating the transition to a net-zero economy and helping our partners become more sustainable businesses.”

The PSI was developed through a partnership between risk management leaders and the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative. Chaucer said the four principles are:

• Embedding ESG issues relevant to the insurance business into decision making.
• Working together with clients and business partners to raise awareness of ESG issues, manage risk, and develop solutions.
• Working together with governments, regulators and other key stakeholders to promote widespread action across society on ESG issues.
• Demonstrating accountability and transparency by regularly publicly disclosing progressing in implementing the principles.

Chaucer’s move follows the development of its ESG Balanced Scorecard programme with Moody’s, which evaluates the ESG performance of a business based on its disclosures. Chaucer also recently invested in, and is providing lead capacity for, carbon credit insurance specialist Kita, whose carbon purchase protection cover insures buyers of forward-purchased carbon credits.