Suncorp welcomes the launch of the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) Climate Change Roadmap (‘Roadmap’), which demonstrates the insurance sector’s commitment to achieving net-zero and supporting the decarbonisation of the Australian economy.
The insurance industry has a key role to play as we share our deep understanding of risk to help improve Australia’s resilience to a changing climate. The Roadmap sets out recommendations on how individual insurers can achieve net-zero emissions no later than 2050, with a focus on substantially cutting emissions this decade and playing our part in limiting global warming to 1.5°C.
Suncorp’s Scope 1 & 2 net-zero target was accelerated to 2030 earlier this year. In line with the Roadmap, we will look to expand this target to include additional categories across controlled operations, subject to materiality, relevance, and the availability of data and established methodologies. We will also explore pathways to achieve net-zero across our investments, underwriting and claims supply chain no later than 2050.
As a financial services company, we recognise that more than 90% of our emissions relate to our underwriting activity and investments, which form a significant part of our Scope 3 emissions. Measuring our financed emissions and setting a baseline will be a priority for the Group over the coming year, where data and methodologies allow. This important work will help inform our targets and action plans as we align our business to a net-zero future.
Suncorp Group CEO Insurance Product & Portfolio Lisa Harrison said the net-zero transition was a challenge that could only be achieved through collaboration.
“The ICA Climate Change Roadmap is the insurance industry’s signal that we are determined to play our part in enabling the transition of our economy towards net-zero,” Ms Harrison said.
Lisa Harrison, CEO Insurance Product & Portfolio
This is simply not a task any one insurer can accomplish on its own - we look forward to collaborating with the ICA, our fellow insurers, our customers and suppliers as well as the federal and state governments as we navigate this complex task ahead of us.
