Butch Bacani

Programme Leader,
UN Environment’s Principles for Sustainable Insurance Initiative

Butch Bacani leads UN Environment’s Principles for Sustainable Insurance Initiative (PSI), the largest collaborative initiative between the UN and the insurance industry. Endorsed by the UN Secretary-General and insurance industry CEOs, the PSI serves as a global framework for the insurance industry to address environmental, social and governance issues as risk managers, insurers and investors—and a global initiative to strengthen the industry’s contribution to building resilient, inclusive and sustainable communities and economies. Developed by UN Environment’s Finance Initiative, the PSI was launched at the 2012 UN Conference on Sustainable Development.

Butch leads PSI activities supporting global policy frameworks such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals, Paris Agreement on Climate Change, and Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, and disclosure frameworks such as the Financial Stability Board’s climate risk disclosure recommendations. He forged the largest collaboration between the insurance industry and cities, and the PSI’s global partnership with the world’s microinsurance community, and co-led the creation of UN Environment’s Sustainable Insurance Forum for regulators. Butch is involved in the UN Secretary-General’s Climate Resilience Initiative, G7-backed InsuResilience Global Partnership, and Vulnerable 20 Group of Ministers of Finance.

Butch led the global research, consultation and drafting process that created the PSI in 2012, and UN Environment’s insurance and investment programmes from 2006 to 2010, including its activities with the Principles for Responsible Investment. He has authored or contributed to pioneering studies, including the first sustainable insurance study; first global sustainability survey of the insurance industry; first global insurance industry survey of cities, SMEs and climate risks; industry commitments on climate change, disaster risks, tobacco risks, and oceans; and a legal roadmap on fiduciary duty and responsible investment. Before the UN, Butch was in the insurance industry for over a decade, working with leading insurers and reinsurers worldwide.