How insurers can do good work in impact investing

Andrew Putwain: How has the investment strategy been affected by events such as COP26 and other ESG-related changes - is there more pressure to take strident measures on this?

James Pearson: Our journey of responsible investments to drive sustainable outcomes and positive impact started in 2014 when we became signatories to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (UNPRI) and launched our impact investing initiative Premiums4Good.

"Our approach to responsible investments continues to develop."

The need to embed ESG and sustainability in organisations has grown over that time and is now recognised by a broad range of stakeholders. We work on integrating sustainability into our business as an important priority, including our approach to investment strategies.

Our approach to responsible investments continues to develop, with ESG considerations part of our direct investment due diligence as well evolving how we engage with our investments. We see the big opportunity from significant climate summits - such as COP26 last year - as the awareness that it raises and the impetus it drives for rapid action to be taken from both public and private sectors globally, including insurers.

Andrew: How has impact investing been affected by the pandemic and what are your plans for it going forward?

James: The pandemic has reinforced the importance of impact investing and we believe it will continue to grow in future investment strategies. Given the extremely difficult time at the start of the pandemic, impact investing could well have become an afterthought given the focus on market volatility. Pleasingly that is not the case and if anything, it has accelerated it.

"Our ambition is to grow our impact investments to $2 billion

 by 2025."

For me and QBE in general, our focus on impact investing continues to grow. We now have $1.4 billion invested in 83 securities across 11 impact areas. Our ambition is to grow our impact investments to $2 billion by 2025.

Andrew: Insurers investing for social good and other goals related to justice and fairness principles are becoming more prescient – can you talk us through what your thoughts are on that and why you think it matters?

James: Our strategies look to invest across a range of issues and with a diversity of impact. We believe the opportunity is to demonstrate to other asset owners that it is possible to make a fiduciary return and have a positive impact at the same time.

"Responsible investment is a powerful tool in tackling sustainability

and affecting change."

We also believe in championing impact investing, which are investments made with the intention to generate positive, measurable social and environmental impact alongside a financial return.

Responsible investment is a powerful tool in tackling sustainability and affecting change and the insurance industry is one of the largest investors in assets globally and has the opportunity to lead in this space.