A.M. Best Endorses United Nations' Sustainable Insurance Principles

A.M. Best has become a signatory to the United Nations Environment Program Finance Initiative Principles for Sustainable Insurance (PSI), the first credit rating agency to do so.

In a statement, Best said it believes the insurance industry plays an important role in supporting sustainable economic and social development, and that the management of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) efforts will strengthen the insurance industry's contribution to building a resilient, inclusive, and sustainable society.

More than 140 organizations worldwide have adopted the four Principles for Sustainable Insurance, according to Best, including insurers representing more than 25 percent of world insurance premium volume and $14 trillion in assets under management.

"A.M. Best and its major affiliates are pleased to become a signatory to the UN's Principles for Sustainable Insurance," Arthur Snyder III, chairman, president, and CEO of A.M. Best Company, said in the statement. "The principles 'serve as a global framework for the insurance industry to address environmental, social, and governance risk and opportunities.'"

"This fits both our focus on insurance and our continued perspective that ESG elements play an important role in the financial strength of an insurance company," Matthew C. Mosher, president and CEO of A.M. Best Rating Services, said in the statement. "We've long captured environmental and governance issues in our ratings opinions through catastrophe stress tests, A&E tests, and ERM [enterprise risk management]. ESG is a repackaging of these. Through the PSI, we are making a further commitment of disclosure and transparency to forward an ESG agenda."