Goals & Objectives:

- Develop and propose an “Insuring the Net-Zero Transition” Strategy to inform Zurich North America including:

- Analysis of Zurich’s current offerings, net-zero technology and industry trends and their associated risks to wide-scale adoption, emerging low carbon and biodiversity risk policy, and competitive landscape of similar offerings (both insurance cover, advisory services, and risk assessment tools)

- Priority analysis of most urgently needed technologies and industries for society to reach net-zero, identification of gaps in traditional insurance products for these emerging industries, and innovative insurance solutions to bridge these gaps

- Exploration of how the upcoming Taskforce for Nature-related Financial Disclosures and the emerging carbon offset market will impact the future of insurance products and opportunities

- Definition of Product/Service opportunities and Go-to-Market strategic roadmap including a Positive Impact Measurement approach

- Recommended approach for building up necessary capabilities (e.g. learning, acquisition, &/or partnering, risk appetite adjustments)

Theoretical Justification, Social Benefit, or Significance:

- “A new global, resilient, low carbon economy will be enabled by unprecedented and accelerated technological innovation. This will, in turn, create new insurance products and classes, just as insurance systems and related governance have supported the development and adoption of new technologies and high-risk industries. The scope and scale of climate transition may even require insurance solutions to be developed before risks manifest to avoid detrimental impacts and delays. Clean energy systems, such as carbon capture and storage, hydrogen power or the decommissioning of brown assets may bring new risks and potential liabilities.” – CISL: Risk Sharing in the Climate Emergency.

- Zurich has significant internal capabilities in developing risk transfer solutions and is a sustainability leader in the insurance sector and is focused on achieving Net-Zero, therefore we believe there is a business opportunity for the insurance sector to develop risk management capabilities that can accelerate the transition to a Net Zero future through both technological and nature-based solutions.

- For a deeper dive into net-zero aligned innovation for the insurance sector, check out the excellent summary by ClimateWise: Climate product innovation within the insurance sector and FERMA’s whitepaper on Insuring the Transition: The issues confronting risk managers.

Specific Activities & Duration:

- Action-based Learning directly contributing to Zurich’s Sustainability Underwriting team and interviews with internal and external Subject-Matter Experts across the Net-Zero transition market landscape.

- Desk-based research for Technology trends, Policy developments, and Market studies.

Integrative Approach:

- Since this project is truly interdisciplinary, spanning strategy, intrapreneurship, policy, and emerging technology, a very diverse team would be required to deliver the ambitious set of project objectives and deliverables.