The Sunrise Project
At a Glance
Industry
Nonprofit
Project Types
Financial Evaluation and Planning, Sustainability and Energy Management Strategy
Year
2023
Location
Dover, DE
Summary
John Delisa developed research and analysis to evaluate the potential of the insurance industry to accelerate the decarbonization of the agriculture, auto, cement and steel sectors.
Goals
The Insure Our Future is a global campaign of NGOs and social movements that hold the insurance industry accountable for its role in the climate crisis. To date, the campaign has made a meaningful difference in advocating for insurance companies to immediately stop insuring new fossil fuels and phase out support for existing coal, oil and gas projects in line with a credible 1.5C pathway.
With major insurance companies committing to achieving net zero emissions by 2050 in their (re)insurance underwriting portfolios, The Sunrise Project enlisted John Delisa to identify opportunities and provide a set of recommendations on how insurance can accelerate the decarbonization of other carbon-intensive sectors including agriculture, auto, cement and steel.
Solutions
In order to understand the potential of the insurance industry to decarbonize these sectors, John conducted desk research and analysis as well as consultations with select sustainability executives from the insurance industry and experts from civil society organizations. The results of this research led John to provide two key areas of recommendation.
First, of all sectors evaluated, John concluded that the steel sector represents the best opportunity at this time as it provides the greatest concentration of key stakeholders, the opportunity to make an impact on the insurance and investing front, and represents a logical point of entry into other evaluated sectors, primarily auto, among other factors.
The second recommendation was to conduct more extensive research and analysis including deep dive into insurers portfolios and net zero commitments for each sector and assessing further viability through ongoing conversations with valued civil society partners and allies in the insurance and reinsurance space.
Potential Impact
John’s research provided the groundwork for the insurance program at The Sunrise Project in understanding the role of insurers in decarbonizing carbon-intensive sectors beyond fossil fuels by providing research and analysis that addressed the various mechanisms insurance companies can undertake to reduce their insured emissions, ultimately leading to advocacy for and acceleration in the emissions reduction of one or more of these sectors.
These sectors have global contributions of greenhouse gases (measured in terms of tonnes of CO2 equivalent) ranging from approximately 20% to 7%.