This year's rising star award goes to Sereina Pfister, a sustainability risk manager at NN Group, in recognition of her leadership, project management talent and ability to drive collaboration across the business.

Having joined NN Group as a sustainability risk manager in 2023, she was at the Dutch insurer for only two months before taking on the responsibility for a new company-wide climate risk roadmap.

Reporting to a Climate Risk Steering Committee, Pfister coordinated and led the development and execution of a new climate risk framework to streamline how NN Group identifies, assesses, manages and reports on climate risks across its underwriting activities.

Given the importance of climate risk regulatory compliance, she ensured the framework would support reporting requirements while addressing the company's needs.

Project management

The judges were impressed by her talent for project management and the way she communicated progress with internal stakeholders to ensure the business has confidence and clarity in the expected deliverables.

As an example, she gives sustainability update presentations every quarter, sharing her knowledge and explaining the climate risk framework to other departments to align processes across the company and ensure the project gains acceptance across the business, including second-line professionals.

Winning this award recognises the value of Pfister's sustainability risk knowledge and her project management skills. But it is her ability to work with ease and communicate with different stakeholders and across functions that is a particular skill.

NN Group says she has played a key role in its internal discourse on climate reporting and has strong but practical opinions on the need to integrate risk management into the overall discussion of sustainability.

Pfister is the clear winner in this category because she has contributed to the broader sustainability goals of NN Group, and the industry as a whole, by adding clarity and framing the discussion on climate risk.

Speaking to InsuranceERM, Pfister says she has always seen the path towards a more sustainable world as inescapable.

"That sense of inevitability is my driver. I wanted to work on influencing how we will go about the integration of sustainability, I wanted to better understand climate change and see what can be done to mitigate its impact. I joined NN Group because I felt the company had a similar ambition and I have found myself among colleagues with similar drivers," she says.

Asked about her climate risk and sustainability goals in the insurance industry, she comments: "As the saying goes, I hate change, but I love progress.

There isn't a lot of 'business as usual' in sustainability and climate risk management, we are trying to build frameworks on a moving foundation.

"The subject needs to get out of that position of constant change and find a solid footing within a risk framework, at least as much as possible. My ambition is to participate in establishing best practice for the sector and to understand how insurance can effectively manage the risks and opportunities derived from it."

She also wants to achieve more clarity in understanding the risks related to climate change, understanding where to focus attention, and be able to prioritise better. "I find that NN has helped me move forward on that path and is involved in the right forums and knowledge exchanges, taking the subject seriously."

Advice for insurers

The rising star winner also has some advice for insurance professionals seeking to improve how they address climate risk and sustainability.

In the first place, Pfister says insurers really need to understand what they are trying to influence. She explains: "If, for example, your goal is to work with the first-line to consider sustainability in their day-to-day work, or you wish to run some sort of ESG assessment, take the time to see what tools they use, what access they have and what their process looks like and then re-adjust your expectations to what they can actually deliver."

She also recommends piggybacking on other projects as much as possible. "If there is a data integration project, check to add ESG data or dashboard; if there is a policy review going on, include an ESG review. Sustainability is often not enough of a reason to launch a project, but it is important enough to be considered as an element of review or addition."

InsuranceERM also asks Pfister how she integrates being climate and environmentally conscious into her personal life.

"I find that a difficult question because the small things that I do personally just don't seem very relevant. I drive an electric car and I bike a lot, I limit plastic use, all the usual things, but my personal emissions probably still would surpass those of the majority of the world population.

"What might matter more is this: I am an advocate for better climate risk awareness, better insurance coverage and understanding. I take pride in my ability to contribute to society and government by voting with the environment in mind and I dedicate my work life to the subject."