The artificial intelligence (AI) boom has had such a profound effect on big tech companies that their energy consumption, and with it their carbon emissions, have doubled in just the last 4 years. Read more
News
Cyber risks in heavy industry: perpetual motion
At a recent Mining Insurance & Risk Association conference in Vancouver, a cyber risk specialist informed a travel-weary auditorium of insurance and risk professionals on their 2nd cup of joe, that she had researched the Dark Web (basically the underground hackers hangout) and found that 28 out of 30 attendee companies had some form of exposed data available for sale or freely available for use by others.
The $9 trillion solution to our 1% problem – Australia’s Net Zero Cost
The latest report from Net Zero Australia (University of Melbourne, the University of Queensland, Princeton University and management consultancies Nous and Evolved Energy) puts the cost at $1.5 trillion by the end of the decade, with the need for $7 trillion to $9 trillion of capital by 2060 to meet Australia’s aspiration of net zero by 2050.
UN convened Net-Zero Insurance Alliance (NZIA) starts to split
The United Nations convened, Net-Zero Insurance Alliance (NZIA) has been eviscerated in the last month with the wholesale exodus of the (re)insurance market from its membership.
As part of its charter, NZIA members must commit to transition their insurance and reinsurance underwriting portfolios to net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050, consistent with a maximum temperature rise of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels by 2100, in order to contribute to the implementation of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.
Part of this NZIA protocol compels member companies to meet NZIA’s “emissions reduction target” by choosing either an overarching insurance associated emissions reduction target of between 34-60% by 2030, or targeting emissions on a sector-by-sector basis in line with a net zero pathway for that sector. Much of the language used within its requirements refers to ‘pressuring’ its ‘insureds’ in ‘dirty’ industries to fall into line.
Now only 17 insurers remain, with the founding and major member companies alike, including giants Munich RE, Swiss RE, Lloyds, Zurich, Hannover, QBE, and even Paris headquartered AXA and Scor, all vacating their association with the NZIA.
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Market Update – Lloyds
Lloyds of London Market Update, April 2023
In early March 2023, Lloyds of London (Lloyds) released their full 2022 results, announcing a profit of GBP 2.6Bn (2021: GBP 1.7Bn) for the year and a combined ratio of 91.9% (2021: 93.5%).
This confirms Lloyds have now categorically reversed years of previous loss-making periods and their second consecutive underwriting profit; increasing this metric by a significant 52% over the 2021 result.