UN, WWF, insurers unite to protect heritage sites

The first guide for the insurance industry to protect priceless and irreplaceable assets across the globe was launched recently at an event by UN Environment’s Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) in São Paulo, Brazil, convening leading insurers, investors and banks.

The pioneering guide, Protecting our World Heritage, insuring a sustainable future, builds on the launch of the first insurance industry statement of commitment to protect World Heritage Sites. The statement is supported by leading insurers — writing about USD170 billion in gross premiums and managing USD2.7 trillion in assets — as well as insurance associations and key stakeholders around the world.

To develop the guide, UN Environment’s Principles for Sustainable Insurance Initiative (PSI)—the largest collaboration between the UN and the insurance industry—worked with its member insurers, WWF and the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) World Heritage Centre, and was supported by ECOFACT, a sustainability service provider.

The main aim is to provide practical guidance to insurers on how to prevent or reduce the risk of insuring and investing in companies or projects whose activities could damage World Heritage Sites, particularly in relation to sectors such as oil and gas, mining, and large-scale hydropower. Other relevant sectors include logging, fishing, agriculture, plantations, and large-scale infrastructure such as pipelines, roads and mega-ports.

Ernesto Ottone R., UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Culture said, “By proposing sites as World Heritage sites, countries recognise their importance for humankind and commit to protect them. But conserving World Heritage sites is the duty of every one of us. Too many World Heritage sites are threatened by unsustainable development or large-scale infrastructure. We believe the banking and insurance sectors can significantly contribute to protecting these outstanding places by ensuring that their portfolios avoid projects which could impact them. This publication is a very practical and hands-on toolkit on how to achieve this.”