Find answers to the most common questions below
Insurers and climate
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The CSRD requires all companies, including insurers, to disclose information about their environmental, social, and governance (ESG) impacts.
It applies to EU insurers with over €40 million in gross written premiums, and non-EU insurers with substantial EU business, aiming for enhanced transparency in ESG practices.
The CSRD measuring & reporting requirements are obligatory in the annual reports over the financial year 2024.
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Yes, insurers in the EU are required to disclose Scope 3 emissions if they meet specific criteria related to their size and business operations.
However, smaller entities, particularly those with fewer than 750 employees, may have some flexibility until 2025 to fully report on Scope 3 emissions.
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Regulatory requirements are evolving, with a trend toward requiring insurers to disclose not just their direct but also indirect, insurance-associated emissions. This includes emissions linked to underwritten projects and investments, pushing for greater transparency and accountability in the insurance sector's contribution to climate change.
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Under the CSRD, if claims-related emissions are significant for understanding the company's sustainability impact or financial performance, it is required to report them. This aligns with the directive's emphasis on the double materiality principle, which requires reporting on how sustainability issues affect the business and vice versa.
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While a universally accepted standard is still emerging, insurers are increasingly adopting methodologies that align with broader sustainability reporting frameworks, such as the Greenhouse Gas Protocol and Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). These approaches often involve estimating the carbon footprint of insured events and integrating these calculations into their overall environmental impact assessments.
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Net-zero requires actions in three key areas of an insurer: 1) Own operations, 2) Investments, and 3) Insurance and claims.
An insurer can reach net-zero emissions by setting clear targets, reducing its direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions through operational efficiencies, carbon-conscious underwriting and claims handling processes, investing in sustainable projects, and offsetting remaining emissions through credible carbon removal projects.
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Combat climate change: The infrastructure around revenue streams of insurance offers a unique opportunity for including sustainability elements in insurance products and services.
Helping insurance customers: Cater to consumer and business trends for buying greener products and services – and stay on top of the game as more and more insurers launch green offerings.
New revenue stream opportunity for insurers: The monetized carbon footprint of an insurance is estimated at 2-4 % points on the combined ratio. Green insurance is real business, not just branding and marketing.
About Claims Carbon
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Due to the massive size of the insurance industry, repairs and replacements of insured assets account for almost 2% of all global CO2e emissions. It is equivalent to the annual carbon footprint of France and UK combined.
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Claims Carbon delivers a B2B software platform for insurers.
In baselining, insurers upload data using a data uploading assistant and our software does automatic mapping of claims costs to relevant industry emission factors and calculates emissions per line of business (LoB), country, and customer-segment.
In LoB specific deep dives, insurers upload a full year of claims data, and our software analyses each claim and calculates emissions with a hybrid model that combines physical and spend based approaches for accurate results.
All results are presented as interactive dashboards, allowing analysis from multiple dimensions, and users can easily download all results as tables as well.
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In baselining, insurers need to provide a completed data import template. It consists of the data from SFCR (financial) reporting.
In LoB-specific deep dives, insurers need to provide a completed data import template consisting of all paid claims within that LoB for a fiscal year.
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1. The baselining product calculates a full GHG inventory including claims emissions across all lines of business. This allows insurers to disclose the current status and the road ahead to stakeholders.
2. The deep-dive product for Motor and Property identifies GHG reduction opportunities and shows relevant actionable KPI:s.
3. The forecasting product allows impact modeling of sustainability actions, making it possible to set science-based targets and see the impact of actions down the road.
4. The green insurance solution allows insurers to launch sustainable, truly net-zero insurance products, and engage with their customers by creating GHG visibility and highlighting sustainability actions.