The Association of British Insurers (ABI) attained the nature/biodiversity initiative of the year title for the guide it launched in July 2023 that is designed to increase awareness of nature risks and help its members to become more "nature positive".

The ABI guide to action on nature, described by the association as the first report of its kind for the insurance industry, makes a case for nature receiving greater focus and shows how firms across the whole sector can act.

It outlines how nature loss is exposing insurers to a wide range of risks the industry should mitigate, and highlights the pertinence of the issue for UK firms, as according to the ABI, the country ranks in the bottom 10% for biodiversity.

Rebecca Lea, a senior policy adviser specialising in climate change at the ABI, tells InsuranceERM the origins of the nature guide stem from the association's climate change roadmap published in 2021.

She explains as the roadmap was introduced it became clear that "you can't look at climate and achieve all your climate goals without also looking at nature and what we're doing to nature degradation".

"If you look at how nature loss can impact supply chains, I think $44trn is the amount people say is directly dependent on nature, but you can make the argument that 100% of GDP is dependent on nature," she says.

"I think it becomes clearer and clearer that we really cannot consider these [climate and nature] as siloed issues."

She adds the more localised issues of nature, compared with climate, means the previous lack of focus on nature by the insurance sector is understandable, but "the conversation is starting".