While COP26 in Glasgow may not have resulted in the level of government commitments that had been widely advocated before the latest UN climate summit, one thing it most definitely did was shine a light on the expectations for the financial services industry in moving to net zero.
The summit late last year was the first COP that the private sector has attended en masse, and there was widespread recognition of the need for issues to be addressed in a joined-up way across the public and private sectors.
Perhaps the most visible demonstration was that the group of 450 banks and insurers that are part of the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (Gfanz) committed $130 trillion to tackle climate change by 2050.
The calls for greater finance sector transparency and an end to "greenwashing" as part of the conference's Coal, Cash, Cars and Trees message resounded around many sessions and plenaries.
On the one hand, (re)insurers around the world can expect a further raft of climate-related regulatory and reporting obligations in the coming months and years, while COP26 will also almost certainly ramp up the pressures for action that were already building from a broad church of stakeholders, including employees and potential recruits.
