Sustainability and Insurance

Instituto per la Vigilanza sulle Assicurazioni (IVASS) has published a speech by Prof. Riccardo Cesari, IVASS Board Member, at the 2023 AIBA Conference „Sustainability and Insurance“.
In this speech, Prof. Cesari discussed the integration of sustainability factors in insurance, the evolution of ESG investments, and the role of the insurance market in driving positive change. The speech highlighted the growth of sustainable finance and the importance of aligning regulations and adopting international standards for the industry. Prof. Cesari also mentioned that a survey conducted by the Sustainable Finance Forum showed a growing interest in ESG investments among Italian savers.
Prof. Cesari touched upon several important aspects, including the alignment of IVASS regulations affected by new European provisions in the field of sustainable finance of relevance to the insurance sector will aim to promote coherence of application between the national regulations applicable to date and the new European legal framework in order to facilitate their implementation by market participants.
Figure 1: Sustainability and regulatory changes

Other aspects were the role of non-life insurance in climate adaptation and the importance of addressing the wide protection gap for natural catastrophe risk in Italy. He also discussed the EIOPA Guidance on the Integration of Customers’ Sustainability Preferences in the Suitability Assessment under the Insurance Distribution Directive (EU) 2016/97 and the issue of greenwashing in the industry.
In conclusion, Prof. Cesari emphasized the need for the insurance market to contribute to sustainable change and the importance of adapting to new European provisions on sustainable finance. The insurance sector, he argued, plays a crucial role in fostering environmental, governance, and social sustainability models, both as institutional investors and as distributors of investment and protection products.