Brokers in the UK find it difficult to identify insurers that stand out within the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) theme. While brokers find it easy to identify the best in class for categories such as claims service, extranet sites, and product materials, among others, that is not the case for ESG. This highlights that the ESG theme remains at an early stage in the insurance industry.
GlobalData’s 2024 UK Commercial Insurance Broker Survey found that 69.6% of brokers surveyed said they did not know who was the best-in-class insurer for their ‘record on sustainability and ESG policies.’ This was actually a decrease of 73.7% in 2023, which indicates that there has been some progress among select insurers (albeit limited). The only two insurers with any presence in the results were Aviva, which continued to lead this field with 10.4% of responses, and Allianz (8.8%). No other insurer received over 3% of responses.
This emphasises how ESG is still some way short of being a strategic priority for both brokers and insurers. The findings suggest that brokers do not consider ESG activity a great deal when choosing to place business with certain insurers while insurers are failing to stand out enough in this field to be recognised by brokers.
The slight decrease in ‘don’t know’ responses from 2023 to 2024 can be largely attributed to Allianz. Its share grew from 4.8% to 8.8% over this period. Allianz launched a dashboard tracking net-zero transition progress and requirements at the start of 2024, which may have been noted by some brokers. This was aimed at helping clients track their own path to net zero to help them achieve the required Paris Agreement goals.
Despite two global insurers, Allianz and Aviva, having something of a presence in this field, it is clear that any insurer still can establish itself as a leader within ESG. If industry insiders—in the form of brokers—struggle to name standouts within the theme, then customers almost certainly will not be able to. Therefore, this represents an opportunity for either Allianz or Aviva to pull away in this respect, or for other insurers to become leaders in this area. ESG is only going to grow as a theme in insurance and it will be driven by customer demand, so being seen as a pioneer by customers will be very beneficial for any insurer.
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By GlobalData
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