Transitioning insurers' portfolios

Decarbonisation is not an easy fit in a world where every activity is linked directly or indirectly to carbon, but add to that the need to consider 'justice' in the transition - ensuring the benefits of the low carbon transition are widely and fairly shared – and it becomes a mammoth task for enterprises who may never have seen that as being their role in society.

• Should one let the carbon footprint of the portfolio rise in the short-term knowing it will fall in the long-term?
• Is there a point in engaging with extractive industry companies, when one knows they have transition plans?
• What if cutting down a tree was better for the environment then letting it live through its life cycle?
• Where are the investment opportunities of that transition?
• How to balance the time needed for ambitions to reach maturity and the urgency coming from civil society pressure?

None of these questions have easy answers, but they are – along with many others - top of insurers' minds. In this report by Insurance Asset Risk and J.P. Morgan Asset Management, insurers candidly share some of the solutions they are exploring.

The report is free to download.