The United Nations Environmental Programme Finance Initiative (UNEPFI), in collaboration with Allianz, published the first ESG guide for the global insurance industry. Regarding animal welfare, the guide recommends the FARMS initiative as a tool for risk mitigation and adopting good practices.
The guide is a result of a multi-year initiative under the Principles for Sustainable Insurance (PSI) to develop the first global guide to manage ESG risks in risk assessment and insurance underwriting. It has an initial focus on non-life insurance business—also known as property and casualty insurance business.
The guide puts the livestock sector on top of the list of economic sectors prone to ESG risks – including animal welfare – and provides tools for insurance companies to develop their ESG approach, including integrating ESG issues within operations, management and reporting. Animal welfare risks during livestock transport are in particular highlighted in the guide’s ‘heat map’.
Julie Janovsky, Vice President Farm Animal Welfare at the Humane Society International, one of the partners of the FARMS initiative, welcomes UNEPFI’s guide: ‘Animal welfare is an important ESG risk which insurance companies need to engage with. This ESG guide provides a general framework to start doing so. In addition, the FARMS initiative offers the tools to set clear standards and objectives regarding animal welfare in livestock production. We are looking forward to working with insurance companies to better mitigate animal welfare and related risks, such as for climate, public health and biodiversity.’