Robeco, The Investments Engineers

05-05-2021 · Insight

The road to impact investing – a journey for insurers

Sustainable investing has risen to the top of insurers’ agendas – but how to make an impact with it?

    Authors

  • Clara Yan - Head of Global Insurance Solutions

    Clara Yan

    Head of Global Insurance Solutions

Top keywords

Many insurance companies are keen to embrace more sustainable ways of investing their clients’ premiums, as combatting climate change grows in importance, and Covid-19 continues to dominate. As such, they are seeking strategies that embrace environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors.

What may be still missing though is how to make an impact in the process. This can be done by impact investing, which is defined as “investments in companies, organizations and funds with the intention of generating a social and environmental impact, alongside a financial return.”

And there are various ways of doing it, such as through thematic strategies covering issues such as climate change, to more bespoke vehicles that target the Sustainable Development Goals. These offerings are structured not only as ‘off-the-shelf’ investment funds, but also as customized segregated accounts. This means insurers can tailor the strategies according to their sustainability agendas.

Finding the right strategies

But how to go about it? And with such a wide array of worthy causes available, what sustainable projects should an insurer embrace? Some strategies may be suitable for decarbonizing an insurer’s balance sheet, while others might work better on unit-linked platforms or segregated accounts as means of earning returns in a more sustainable way.

To answer some of the conundrums, Robeco’s Insurance Solutions team has produced an article explaining the issues in depth. It gives the background on the topic and the various solutions available, backed with case studies on how insurers are actually dealing with the issue today.

“Focusing on impact investing has become a core tenet of an insurer’s sustainability and community engagement approach,” say the article’s authors, insurance specialists Clara Yan and Jessica Lenehan.

“In this paper, we focus on how insurance companies are framing their agendas around sustainability, and the different impact investment tools they are using to translate their sustainability goals into tangible results.”

Download the full article here

Related topics

share

Let's keep the conversation going

Robeco is an international asset manager offering an extensive range of active investments, from equities to bonds.

Read more
Robeco

Robeco aims to enable its clients to achieve their financial and sustainability goals by providing superior investment returns and solutions.

Important information: This website is prepared and issued in Australia by Robeco Hong Kong Limited (ARBN 156 512 659) (‘Robeco’) which is exempt from the requirement to hold an Australian financial services licence under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) pursuant to ASIC Class Order 03/1103. Robeco is regulated by the Securities and Futures Commission under the laws of Hong Kong and those laws may differ from Australian laws. The information on this web page is provided to you because Robeco reasonably believes that you are a "wholesale client" within the meaning of that term under section 761G(4) of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) ("Corporations Act") and not any other class of persons. This information is not an advertisement and is not intended to induce retail clients to acquire Robeco products. Retail clients who are interested in Robeco products should contact their financial adviser.