The first IUMI Eye of 2020 allows me the opportunity to wish our readers happiness and prosperity as we enter not just a fresh year, but a new decade too.

In the final IUMI Eye of the 2010s decade, I mentioned we were about to undertake a consultation with our 43 member associations on the theme of Environment, Social and Governance (ESG). This survey has now been completed and it reveals some really interesting themes for the Executive Committee to reflect on.

In short, our members have given strong backing to the need for IUMI to take a more meaningful position on ESG matters. In the survey:

• 80% said that ESG matters were either ‘Very Important’ or ‘Extremely Important’ for them as associations and their member companies; and 65% said it should be similarly important for ESG topics to be on IUMI’s agenda;
• 90% of correspondents felt that the importance of ESG matters was increasing; none believed the impetus was reducing;
• and here below is the response to the question “Do you see a role for IUMI to raise awareness and inform IUMI members about ESG topics with a specific marine insurance angle”:

This graph shows that 70% of correspondents want IUMI to do a lot more in the area where ESG is directly linked to marine insurance and 95% want to see IUMI doing at least a moderate amount of activity in this regard.

The link between ESG and marine insurance is pivotal because it is where these elements are connected, that IUMI’s logical positioning around environmental matters is most relevant. It is important that IUMI stays fully focused on dealing with environmental topics where there is a close link to our core purpose. And of course, we are already doing quite a lot: for example, our Policy Forum is closely connected with emerging issues such as Arctic sailing and the introduction of low sulphur fuels on ships.

We remain close to the start of this initiative and it is important that we get the balance right in terms of how we tackle this new emerging priority for the organisation. I am very interested to hear feedback directly from readers on this matter, so please feel free to write to me (richard.turner@iumi.com) with your thoughts and reflections.