The insurance industry is well positioned to advance and deliver investment into “nature-based” solutions, according to a report from Howden and climate change advisory group Pollination.

The paper echoes the Insurance Council of Australia’s Advancing Resilient Nature Positive Insurance report, urging insurers to push nature finance to address climate change threats. 

Recommendations for the insurance sector include adapting crop insurance to cover losses incurred as part of the transition to sustainable, regenerative agriculture, and the use of parametric products. 

Insurers are also urged to incentivise habitat restoration and conservation through insurance options, including more coverage for carbon credit markets. 

The report says insurers should replace incentivised schemes contributing to biodiversity loss with more sustainable solutions.

It says insurer action on the issue would address barriers to private sector investment, including lack of revenue models, high upfront costs, investor awareness and a lack of enabling policy and regulation. 

Howden climate risk and resilience CEO Rowan Douglas says the insurance sector “has a significant role in creating value and mobilising finance towards the natural capital we must protect.

“This report creates a path for insurance to help evaluate ecosystem risks and create the governance systems to reduce, manage and share risks, to both protect natural assets and mobilise public and private capital to align with nature.”

Click here to read the Through the Wilderness report.