#Performance Highlights
Continued to implement our Climate Change Action Plan
Met targets to reduce Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG emissions through carbon reduction initiatives
Completed first phase of climate change scenario analysis
Continued advocacy and community engagement through our Natural Hazard Resilience Strategy
Integrated the UNEP FI Principles for Sustainable Insurance
Suncorp conducts business in a way that protects and sustains the environment. We are continuing to reduce our environmental impact and be transparent about our environmental performance.
Climate change presents strategic and financial risks and opportunities for our organisation and our community. Suncorp is reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and preparing for the physical impacts of climate change and the transition to a net-zero emissions economy by 2050.
We are responding to climate-related risks and opportunities, including natural hazard resilience building, through the implementation of our Climate Change Action Plan and Environmental Performance Plan.
#Climate Change Action Plan
Our CCAP details our actions for managing climate-related risks and opportunities and proactively reducing our environmental footprint.
Our CCAP includes:
- strengthening our governance processes including assessment of climate risk
- reducing our environmental footprint
- increasing community resilience
- accelerating emerging opportunities and climate-related innovation
- tracking and openly disclosing our climate-related performance.
#Building Natural Hazard Resilience
Suncorp continues to help our customers and communities be aware, protected, and prepared for natural disasters, and to better adapt to our changing climate. We do this through our advocacy and collaboration with key industry, government and community stakeholders and through products that recognise and reward customers’ own resilience building. Suncorp’s Natural Hazard Resilience Program focuses on:
- Deepening climate change and natural hazard risk insights and risk intelligence
- Engaging with stakeholders and contributing to the development of community-level risk reduction
- Extending our capability and product solutions.
During the year, Suncorp partnered with researchers to deepen climate change and natural hazard risk insights to enable stronger risk selection and pricing. We were a leading voice in advocating for greater government investment in infrastructure to protect communities from natural hazards. Through our Storm Ready Streets program we worked with community partners to raise awareness of natural disaster risk and rewarded Queensland households, residents and businesses that actively prepared for extreme weather. We continued to offer our Cyclone Resilience Benefit to homeowners, with 45,749 customers receiving insurance premium reductions.
#Collaborating for Action
Suncorp works with and participates in industry initiatives to address climate change including Climate Measurement Standards Initiative, Climate-KIC, Insurance Council of Australia Climate Change Action Committee, Business Council of Australia Adaptation and Resilience Working Group, ABA Sustainability Working Group and the Actuaries Institute Climate Change and Affordability Working Group. Suncorp is also collaborating with the newly established Minderoo Foundation Wildfire and Disaster Resilience Program.
Suncorp New Zealand is a member of the Sustainable Business Council and Climate Leaders Coalition. We are a signatory to the Principles for Responsible Investment, Principles for Sustainable Insurance and Principles for Responsible Banking, international frameworks committed to driving collective action and sustainable practices across the finance sector.
#Summary of TCFD Disclosures
In 2018 Suncorp became one of the first 250 companies globally to be a signatory to the Financial Stability Board’s Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). Our first disclosures were in our 2017–18 Annual Review and the 2018 Carbon Disclosure Project.
Suncorp continues to integrate climate change considerations into governance, risk management and strategy processes in line with the Financial Stability Board’s Task Force on Climaterelated Financial Disclosures framework (TCFD), of which Suncorp became a signatory to in 2018.
This year Suncorp further investigated the emergence of climate-related risks and opportunities through scenario analysis of different emission concentration pathways and at fixed points in time.
#Governance
Governance of climate change at Suncorp is the responsibility of the Suncorp Group Limited and Suncorp New Zealand Boards, which oversee the response to climate change risks and opportunities through their Board Risk Committees. Key strategic and financial risks, including climate change, are identified during the annual business planning process and mitigation activity is considered at least on a quarterly basis through reporting to Board Committees.
The Group Chief Executive Officer (Group CEO) and Executive Leadership Team are accountable for Suncorp’s actions and commitments to embed climate change into risk management, business strategy, business planning and budgeting processes and frameworks, as outlined in the CCAP. Emerging risks, including those related to climate change are monitored regularly by management committees, with material changes escalated to the Board as required.
#Strategy
Suncorp takes a holistic view of climate change impacts – physical, transition, second order and compounding effects – recognising there are significant long-term financial and strategic risks that we address through our CCAP and risk management. Climate change does not increase the number of risks managed by Suncorp, but can increase the impact of risks that are already managed through the Enterprise Risk Management Framework.
Climate change poses both a strategic and a financial risk to the business over the medium to long term. While there are significant risks to manage, there are also opportunities for Suncorp in risk management and the diversification of revenue through supporting the transition to a net-zero emissions economy.
#Risk management
Suncorp has further investigated the emergence of climate-related risks and opportunities through scenario analysis of different emission concentration pathways and at fixed points in time. Our work recognises the impacts of climate change on the business and provides rigorous analysis to: inform our Group and business unit strategic planning, as well as financial decisions such as reinsurance and pricing; meet market expectations about disclosure; and, be transparent with investors, regulators and other stakeholders about our efforts to limit the impacts of climate change.
The management of climate-related risks are embedded in our business through:
- Strategic plans including our Group Strategic and Business Plans, Climate Change Action Plan focusing on climate risk and natural hazard resilience, and our Environmental Performance Plan including our Renewable Energy Strategy
- Financial planning including integration of climate change into risk modelling and pricing, reinsurance and Natural Hazard Aggregate Protection
- Policy and Guidelines including our Insurance Risk Standard, Retail and Business Credit Policy and Lending Assessments, Responsible Investment Policy, Responsible Banking & Insurance Policy and Sensitive Sector Guidelines
- Organisational capability building including participation in industry working groups.
#Metrics and targets
Managing and reducing our environmental footprint is a core commitment of our CCAP and is driven by our Environmental Performance Plan. In 2019, Suncorp set a science-based target for scope 1 and scope 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction of 51 per cent in absolute emissions by 2030 and achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 based on a 2017–18 baseline.
