Actuaries playing a more important role in promoting sustainability actions

A new report by the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA) has found that actuaries and other related financial professionals are playing a more direct role in advising firms and clients about sustainability actions.

As the report, Actuarial involvement in climate and sustainability work, authored by Alan Marshall, noted, actuaries are ‘playing their part’ in tackling the risks and opportunities associated with climate change and sustainability.

‘Across insurance, pensions and investments, actuarial involvement has extended to provide significant and wide-ranging advice to their firms and clients in this topic,’ the report notes.

‘This extends to wider fields such as banking, and where climate and sustainability consulting is the main driver. […] We have seen increased levels of actuaries in senior leadership roles focused on climate and sustainability.’

Thought leadership

As the report notes, thought leadership on sustainability has also increased in recent years, with many actuaries playing a ‘considerable role in driving this thinking forwards at their firms and through professional volunteer activity’.

The IFoA seeks to provide support to actuaries across several areas, including regulation, policy, community activity and learning, and with the recent surge in interest around climate and sustainability issues, it is adapting its support framework accordingly.

The role of collaboration

According to the report, collaboration is a key driver of progress on sustainability efforts, noting that ‘actuaries collaborate extensively both within their firms, and through thought leadership activity. This recognises both the skills actuaries can apply in climate and sustainability activity, and also the importance of interacting with other professionals with expertise in this space.’

Elsewhere, it encourages the actuarial community to rely on evidence-based analysis and research, use judgement on how to apply this to future scenarios and help support decisions based on clear analysis.

‘Climate-related risks continue to evolve with emerging scientific evidence that tail risk and tipping points are crystallising,’ the report notes. ‘It is important that actuaries continue to support thought leadership, policy development, and robust decision-making in conjunction with other experts in the field.’ Read more here.