Catalysed by the G20 and created by the private sector, the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) is a comprehensive, practical and flexible framework for corporate disclosure of climate-related risks and opportunities.1 The demand for TCFD disclosure is now enormous. Current supporters control balance sheets totalling $ trillion and include the world’s top banks, asset managers, pension funds, insurers, credit rating agencies, accounting firms and shareholder advisory services.2 The supply of disclosure is responding, with four fifths of over 1100 top G20 companies now disclosing climate-related financial risks in line with some of the TCFD recommendations, and three quarters of users of the information seeing a marked improvement in the quality of climate disclosures.3 The next step is to make these disclosures mandatory. The UK and EU have already signalled their intents.4 It’s time for every country to get involved because the world won’t get to net zero if the financial sector doesn’t know how our companies are responding. In order to watch we must be able to see. 1  Recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (June 2017) available at: https://www.fsbtcfd.org/wpcontent/uploads/2017/06/FINAL-2017-TCFD-Report-11052018.pdf. 2 Full list of current TCFD supporters available at: https://www.fsb-tcfd.org/tcfdsupporters/. 3 Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures: Status Report (June 2019) available at: https://www.fsbtcfd.org/wpcontent/uploads/2019/06/2019-TCFD-Status-Report-FINAL-053119.pdf. 4 The UK has already announced in its Green Finance Strategy published in July 2019 that it expects all listed companies and large asset owners to report climate risks by 2022. A joint taskforce with UK regulators is considering the most appropriate path to mandatory disclosure.

20 countries, which account for 17% of global GDP, have already committed to or legislated for a net-zero emissions goal, with the UK becoming the first in the G7 to do so. 4  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/news/speeches  4  Insurance, Risk Financing and Development event, 22 September 2019 I would like to speak briefly about the role of insurance in smoothing the transition to a 1.5 degree world. This sector brings three things: expertise, money and perspective and those are all crucial in helping society adjust to the reality of that transition. My message is, whether it’s reducing the protection gap, financing resilient infrastructure or improving reporting, risk management and return optimisation across the financial sector, your contributions could be decisive. The insurance industry has a unique contribution of large capital (over $ trillion), deep risk management expertise and long-term perspective. Insurers are well aware that the physical risks of climate change are being felt across the globe with a plague of extreme weather events. The human costs are immeasurable. The financial losses however can be measured and they are significant. Insured losses in 2018 were $ billion, double the inflation-adjusted average for the past 30 years.10 But protection gaps in low and middle income countries mean that even greater costs are being borne by the uninsured.