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2021 IN REVIEW | Sustainable future In association with Apollo
ESG
ESG ESG
Driving change through sustainability Cop26 was a huge opportunity for the world to face up to and act upon the realities of climate change. But while leadership from the very top is essential to drive real progress towards a more sustainable future key sectors such as shipping and insurance have a critical role to play within the bigger picture. Iain Henstridge, of Lloyd’s insurance and reinsurance group Apollo and Co-Chair of the Joint Hull Committee, argues that the shipping and insurance communities can make a real contribution right now Hype is a word that is often associated with climate change and ESG (environmental, social and governance) matters, but global warming and making the changes necessary to usher in a low carbon economy are the biggest challenges facing, not only our customers, but we, as insurers, too. Today, the measure of a company’s success is just as likely to be its green credentials, as its profitability. You only have to look at Tesla, to see the attraction of green businesses to investors. A motor company that no one had heard of 15 years ago, The Marine Insurer | January 2022
now has a market capitalisation of around $1 trillion and is more valuable than the world’s nine largest car makers combined! There are many reasons for this, but surely the most compelling is that, as a corporation, it is quite literally, driving change and is an enterprise with no perceived ‘dirty’ legacy. Companies that do not adapt to change risk extinction. Just ask a teenager if they have ever heard of Kodak. That blank look you receive in return, will make you realise just how quickly a company’s relevance can plummet. At one time the undisputed king of imaging, but a company that arguably failed to react in time to change.
