Increasingly volatile weather patterns and their very real consequences indicate that climate change is no longer an abstract prophesy. It is not a question of “if”, but “where next?”, “how bad?” and “what can we do now?”.

The effects of climate change are expected to have wide-ranging impacts on health and mortality, physical assets, financial markets, and even insurability; all of which are primary elements of the pensions and insurance industries. In addition, key stakeholders (company boards, consumers, shareholders, regulators and governments) are increasingly expecting the industry to consider and address the potential impact of climate risk.

Therefore, as distant as these issues may sometimes seem, actuaries can no longer ignore climate-related risks, and should seek to understand them in the same way as other major risks, such as interest rate risk and mortality risk. This is especially true given that this risk affects both sides of the balance sheet, and its double materiality: it is not just climate-related impacts on insurers that can be material but also impacts of insurers on the climate – or any other dimension of sustainability.

The objective of this presentation is to serve as an introduction for actuaries seeking to understand:

• The main concepts of climate risk and sustainability that are relevant to actuaries; and
• The impact they may have on actuaries’ work.

It is hoped that this presentation will stimulate interest in climate change, serve as a platform for audience members to identify areas of further study, and equip them to start the conversation around how climate risk should be accounted for in their business.

Practical outcomes for the audience:

Primary outcomes:

• Make the link between economics and sustainability, exploring concepts such as ecological economics and the plurality of values, and the impacts of different development paradigms.
• Understand relationships between climate-related issues and strategy, risk management, modelling and reporting.
• Based on international trends, understand next steps actuaries can take to start understanding and managing climate risk in terms of regulation, risk management, reputation risk and revenue opportunities.

Secondary outcomes:

• Learn about the evidence of human-made climate change and its physical and transitional impacts on the financial world.
• Understand the primary stakeholders and the parties and structures that influence climate risk and sustainability globally (e.g. the UN, NGOs, TCFD and financial regulation).
• Learn about intergenerational issues, including how short-term thinking for long-term problems has led to climate change.