2021 is a particularly important year for our country on the international stage, as Italy holds the Presidency of the current G20.
The agenda of the Italian G20 Presidency, structured around the three pillars People – Planet – Prosperity, aims to take care of “the planet and people, ensuring a strong economic recovery that is both inclusive and sustainable” and aligns with the mission of the insurance sector, striving to play a leading role in the growth of the country and to promote a sustainable transition at the environmental and social level.
Starting from the People pillar, the insurance sector has a critical function in endorsing social sustainability and offering adequate protections also in the face of the current socio-economic context by meeting the needs of both the younger generations (often engaged in precarious and discontinuous professional careers) and third and fourth ages (with policies aimed at extending life expectancy).
Moving onto the Planet pillar, the main theme is sustainability and climate change (including catastrophic risks) that are important for our territory. As the main Italian institutional investor, the insurance sector-thanks to its long – term orientation – is a key player for the sustainable transition of our economy and is closely linked to the provisions of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP). Furthermore, Italian insurance companies can also make a substantial contribution as a supplier of adequate insurance coverage and therefore can act as a catalyst to support customers towards adopting innovative and sustainable behavior. Major Italian companies have been moving in this direction for some time by adopting policies aimed at integrating sustainability in the underwriting and investment strategies, as well as policies of exclusion strategies and the decarbonizing portfolios.
Regarding Prosperity, the insurance sector can make a fundamental contribution to the country’s economic recovery through investments, specifically in the infrastructure sector. The insurance sector has economic growth and development in its DNA, also thanks to the large share of savings it collects and on which it lends, for the most part, its full return guarantee at least of the invested capital. This share of savings that are invested in forms of life insurance in Italy has been growing for years. In 2020, it reached 18% of total financial wealth. These resources allow investments in the sector which exceeded 1,000 billion euro in at the end of 2020, approximately equal to 60% of GDP, hence supporting the real economy.
In this respect, there are many initiatives in the insurance sector supporting the Italian Presidency of the G20.
The Net-Zero Insurance Alliance (NZIA) was launched in light of the G20 on climate held in Venice last July. NZIA brings together eight of the world’s leading insurers and reinsurers to work towards accelerating the transition to zero-emission economies. The companies joining NZIA seek to achieve zero net emissions of their insurance and reinsurance portfolios by 2050, thus helping to keep the global temperature rise within 1.5 ° C compared to pre-industrial levels.
In view of the G20 Summit scheduled at the end of October in Rome, the National Association of Insurance Companies (ANIA) will also organize a global event in October, that is the Insurance Summit in collaboration with GFIA – the International Federation of Insurance Associations. These events offer opportunities for the insurance sector to discuss the three-point issues of the People – Planet – Prosperity, and perhaps present proposals at an international level.
CONNECT Editorial Board