7 November 2022
Sandy Trust, Sustainability Board Immediate Past Chair, provides an update on their September Meeting.
It was good to attend the first Sustainability Board meeting of the new session with Lucy Saye chairing and deputy chair Marcus Hurd in place. As ever, it was invigorating to see so much activity taking place across the Board’s portfolios, with high levels of engagement from the nearly 20 members of the Board, covering Events, Regulation, Education, Communities, Research, SDGs and the Early Careers Board.
The Board was pleased to welcome new President, Matt Saker, as a guest. Matt kindly expressed his support of the work of the Board and shared an update on the proposed changes to introduce Chartered Actuary status.
The Board is progressing a collaboration with Sir David King’s Climate Crisis Advisory Group and is looking forward to publishing a paper for COP27 on climate tipping points.
There was an animated discussion on the Board’s purpose and objectives, with Lucy Saye introducing her three priorities for the year ahead as:
1. Systems change – moving to sustainability
Understand the links between sustainability topics covered in the SDG’s and why social and environmental topics need to be addressed together.
Identify environmental and social tipping points, both positive and negative.
2. Action for Nature – nature as our ally
Communicate the links between climate change and biodiversity loss and how restoring nature is critical to achieving a stable climate
Identify links between human health and environmental health
Leverage climate experience to accelerate action for nature
Firmly position the economy as embedded within the environment.
3. Beyond Net Zero – stabilising the climate.
Communicate climate impacts that continue beyond hitting net zero (sea level rise, food security, extreme events)
Highlight the need for negative emissions and climate repair
Articulate the role for actuaries in building resilience and adaptation (including addressing coverage gaps).
These themes are focus areas which sit underneath the overall goal of the Sustainability Board
Sustainability Board Goal – equipping and empowering actuaries to play this role
The IFoA Sustainability Board seeks to create meaningful engagement by all actuaries, their clients and wider stakeholders in understanding, and then in addressing, the uncertainties for economic and financial systems and wider society arising from climate change and other sustainability issues.
The Board seeks to be a source of expertise and leadership for the IFoA in climate change and other sustainability issues and aims to help identify, educate and raise awareness of these issues to support the profession in acting in the public interest.