Social and Environmental Disclosures in the European Insurance Industry in Conditions of Flexibility in the Mandatory Reporting Regime
Insurance companies are expected to play a critical part in the transition to a net-zero, resilient, and socially just economy. Not only can they impact changes through sustainable investing and underwriting, but they can also make a contribution with their own sustainable and inclusive operation...
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| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Editura ASE
2025-08-01
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| Series: | Amfiteatru Economic |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.amfiteatrueconomic.ro/temp/Article_3459.pdf |
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| Summary: | Insurance companies are expected to play a critical part in the transition to a net-zero,
resilient, and socially just economy. Not only can they impact changes through sustainable
investing and underwriting, but they can also make a contribution with their own sustainable
and inclusive operations that go beyond traditional corporate social responsibility
approaches. Both market and regulatory drivers in different European jurisdictions lead to
various stages of the sustainability maturity of the insurance companies. Mandatory nonfinancial reporting in the European Union (EU) is codified by Directive 2014/95/EU, which
allows a high level of flexibility, particularly in the choice of reporting standards/guidelines
and disclosure methods. Although the Community Law has been further developed in the
meantime, only with the adoption of Directive (EU) 2022/2464 a uniform reporting
methodology based on the European sustainability reporting standards (ESRS) was
established. The paper explores how European insurers have made progress in the
sustainability agenda ahead of the adoption of Directive 2022/2464, in the flexibility regime
of mandatory non-financial reporting. In a sample of 20 internationally active European
insurance groups, we find that leading European insurers responded to the demands of
stakeholders and society as a whole and provided high-quality information on social and
environmental issues during the period 2016-2021. There is a significantly stronger focus on
environmental issues, with the level of disclosure depending on the sustainability maturity
stage and size of the insurance company |
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| ISSN: | 1582-9146 2247-9104 |