Green Insurance Products
Green Insurance Products
To prevent the threat of greenwashing from the outset, the Austrian Financial Market Authority (FMA) has been performing analyses since 2021 about sustainability-related disclosures of Austrian life insurers with a focus on the insurance undertaking’s product-specific disclosures. Initial findings showed that the presentations on websites regarding sustainability-related disclosure were very heterogeneous. Over 80% of insurers offering life insurance products incorporate sustainability into their product design. Insurance undertakings currently primarily offer “green” products in the form of unit-linked life insurance plans. Disclosures are only made pursuant to Article 8 Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) (products promoting environmental or social characteristics), but not in accordance with Article 9 SFDR (products, that pursue a sustainable investment). Four insurers do not consciously advertise using sustainability aspects. The circumstances under which a life insurance product is to be classified as being “green”, and therefore the SFDR’s specific disclosure requirements it is subject to are not always unambiguous. Article 8 SFDR focuses on the “promotion” of environmental and social characteristics, with the European Commission having a very broad understanding of the term “promotion”.
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