According to Mr. Jonathan Larsen, Chief Innovation Officer of Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, there is a substantial opportunity for innovation in the insurance sector to manage catastrophes brought on by extreme weather events.
To help manage and reduce the risk in agriculture, for instance, Ping An Property & Casualty released its National Disaster Risk Platform 2.0 in 2021. The platform uses 1.4 billion data points on national disasters, internal underwriting records, and claim histories to evaluate the risks of nine different types of natural disasters and can be used to notify business owners, property owners, and car owners of impending disasters in advance. More than 50,000 farmers received more than 170,000 disaster prevention warnings and information in 2021, which led to a CNY38.25 million ($5.38 million) decrease in farmer losses.
There are "reasons for optimism" regarding the extent to which China is promoting good change, according to Mr. Larsen, who noted that the COP27 international climate change conference is presently taking place in Egypt.
He pointed out that at least half of the 18 million-person metropolis of Shenzhen's cars are electric and that the nation is making "enormous progress" in the use of renewable energy. Ping An Property & Casualty has introduced special services for owners of electric automobiles through its "Ping An Auto Owner" app. Users in more than 300 cities can quickly locate the closest charging pile using the app's quick charging pile search function.
According to Mr. Larsen, there are lucrative prospects for the financial sector to finance climate change, and the Ping An group is leading corporate innovation to help China's shift to a low-carbon economy.
According to Mr. Larsen, who spoke at the Singapore Fintech Festival earlier this month, "Ping An, as a very large China-based financial technology and health company, certainly has the ambition to be at the forefront of the highest standards of ESG reporting and conduct." The Group has demonstrated its commitment to being "a constructive force in introducing global standards to Chinese companies, starting with ourselves" through its efforts to measure and track its environmental impact and develop an ESG rating framework for other businesses, according to him.
ESG analysis
The artificial intelligence-based ESG grading system developed by Ping An and released in 2021 is promoting responsible investment in China. More than 2,700 Hong Kong-listed firms are included, in addition to more than 4,500 A-share listed corporations. It assesses roughly 140 fund management firms and more than 14,900 funds in the fund market, as well as more than 4,600 corporate credit bond issuers and 58,000 green bonds in the bond market.
