The Hub worked with the Australian financial services sector, including retail banks, insurers/reinsurers and fund managers to identify their needs and to develop and deliver a preliminary suite of data and information products, and services, and capacity development support tailored to meet these needs. The initial focus was for the outputs to inform sectoral physical climate change impact and risk assessments, at both the national and sub-national scale, and climate-related financial disclosures.
Our research and engagement activities aimed to ensure that as a result of our science:
- the financial services sector gains:
- enhanced awareness of the availability and utility of science-based data and information, and the functionality of existing and new decision support tools, and
- enhanced capacity for operational applications of science-based climate change services for informing climate change impact assessments and risk.
- the financial services sector begins to routinely access and apply science-based information as part of new/enhanced methods and frameworks to mainstream assessment, management and reporting of physical climate change risk in a transparent and rigorous manner consistent with requisite standards of corporate governance, regulatory obligations and best available science.
- the financial services sector begins to meet the expectations of government stakeholders by being seen to be pro-active in effectively managing climate change risk based on robust science and thereby in a manner which is fiscally responsible and in the best interests of the Australian population and economy.
- the financial services sector actively engages with the Australian climate change science community in support of developing and applying new scientific knowledge to better inform decisions to mitigate new and emerging risks from a changing climate.
- the financial services sector starts to routinely factor climate change projections and associated scenario analysis into long-term strategic business planning in a manner consistent with the global emission targets of the Paris Agreement and associated international and domestic policy settings.
- other sectors of government and industry with related institutional exposure to physical climate change impacts leverage off the learnings/experience of the financial services sector to enhance risk management-based governance arrangements (i.e. sectoral transferability/utility and scalability).