Insurance Europe has today published its response to a consultation by the European Commission on its sustainable finance strategy.

The industry called for an increase in the supply of long-term sustainable assets to meet the needs of institutional investors, such as insurers, and their growing willingness to invest sustainably. The demand for such assets is not matched by their availability, therefore public policies are needed to increase the supply of long-term sustainable assets. In this respect, carbon pricing can be an appropriate tool to reduce carbon emissions and make green projects more financeable compared to other ones.

Insurance Europe also called for sustainability to be brought into the mainstream in an affordable, simple and streamlined way, while finding the right balance in performing ESG analysis and identifying adverse impacts at reasonable costs. This requires:

• Affordable centralized access to reliable, comparable and standardised digital ESG data – more details can be found here.  
• Balanced disclosures for customers and other users of ESG information. Consumers should be able to rely on simple labels and information without technical details.

The industry also called for ESG factors to be fully integrated into global, diversified portfolios, while accounting for sustainability risks. This involves:

• Filling the training gap among finance professionals and governance bodies.
• Shared frameworks and assessment tools across financial actors.
• Enhanced sustainability and financial literacy.