Sustainability and Lifelong Learning

We are a profession specialising in risk management and climate change is one of the greatest risks facing our world today. Mitigating the risk is urgent.

Dear members

Welcome to the IFoA Sustainability Lifelong learning page, where we collate what we believe is the most relevant, current thinking on sustainability topics, to make it as easy as possible for you to digest and learn, then connect up with others to share your insights.

We are starting with material on climate change, with biodiversity, systems thinking, new economics and others to follow.

The page will continue to evolve and expand, and our aim is to continually refresh it.  If you read something that you think could add to the library, please let us know.

Thanks for your visit and your contribution.

Louise Pryor, Former Past-President

Sustainability five key facts

1. China is the world’s top polluter emitting 10,357 metric tons of CO₂ followed by USA, India, Russia, Japan. Source: Climatetrade.com
2. One ton of 100% recycled paper saves the equivalent of 4100 kWh of energy, 26,00 litres of water, 30 kgs of air emissions and 2.5 cubic meters of landfill space. Source: Pointpark.edu
3. Recycling a 500ml aluminium beer can saves enough energy to power a TV for four hours. Source:  Circularecology.com
4. Human caused emissions of CO₂ need to fall 45% from 2010 levels by 2030 and reach net zero by around 2050 to limit climate change catastrophe. Source: Netzeroclimatechange.org
5. Forty million people live in modern slavery today. Source: Antislavery.org

Green Finance Charter

The IFoA signed the Green Finance Education Charter  in July 2020. The GFEC was proposed by the UK Government in its Green Finance Strategy released July 2019.

A number of other bodies also signed including:

• Chartered Banker Institute
• CFA Society UK
• Chartered Insurance Institute

As signatory of GFEC , the IFoA commits to:

• engage members
• curate, develop, and promote relevant resources
• encourage the adoption of relevant global and national standards

To meet these requirements, the IFoA's Sustainability Board has produced a number of materials to help you.

Watch our webinar: Climate Risk 101 - Perspectives from a scientist, a civil servant, and an actuary

Discover the science behind global warming and what that means for policy makers and society over the coming decades and look at how the UK Government’s first ever Green Finance Strategy responds to what the science of climate change means for financial services. 

See how we can green the financial system, finance our green priorities and capture the opportunity that a global market for green financial services presents.

A recording of the webinar is available on YouTube and is also available for IFoA members on the IFoA's Virtual Learning Environment (VLE).

Courses and resources to get started

Here are some examples of what is available:

• IFoA Climate Risk and Sustainability Course for IFoA members (launched 2022).
• Edex course: The Science and Global Impact 
• Future Learn course: Climate Change the Science
• Edex course: Financial Risks and Opportunities
• Climate-related risk: An information gathering report on actuarial involvement

To help your understanding of how climate-related risk plays a role in the work of actuaries, the IFoA’s Actuarial Review Team has completed an information-gathering exercise. The report has concluded that in many organisations, actuaries are among those leading the thinking on climate-related risk. The key areas of work carried out by actuaries are scenario modelling and stress testing as well as working alongside others in asset management. Read their full report

• JFAR Deep Dive into Climate Change