Agitating for change – our Chair speaks out in May

As trailblazers in green finance, we’re proud of the depth and breadth of knowledge at Ecology, which we share with our peers to agitate for change and encourage better ways of doing business.

Ecology’s directors are the most visible example in industry and political circles, and in May our Chair, Louise Pryor, had a busy month representing the Society at national level.

Louise’s expertise and experience as an actuary, academic and software engineer saw her invited on to three different industry panels to talk about the risks and impact of climate change.

In early May, Louise joined colleagues from across the mutual sector for the Building Societies Association (BSA) annual conference. Birmingham was chosen to host the national event, having been the birthplace of the first UK building society 250 years ago.

Looking at mutuals’ responsibilities to assess and measure climate risk, Louise offered insights into how Ecology has streamlined its own climate risk reporting and stressed that while reporting is valuable, actions are even more important.

Next, she joined the conference of LUCID, a national collective of Life Underwriters, Claims and Insurance Doctors, also held in Birmingham. Her presentation explored how climate change affects human health and rates of death and illness, whether directly, through heat or cold stress or extreme weather events, or indirectly through its social and economic impacts.

As well as considering those risks from the audience’s professional perspective, Louise shared some talking points to remind people about actions and opportunities they can take at a personal and business level.

Rounding off the month’s public engagements for Ecology, Louise appeared on a panel at FT Live’s Climate & Impact Summit 2025 in the City of London.

Hundreds of ESG and NGO professionals watched the group of insurance specialists debate the question, ‘are we marching towards an uninsurable future?’.

With her particular expertise in the financial and economic impacts of climate change in insurance, Louise highlighted the potential conflict between the industry’s short-term relationships with policyholders, and the long-term actions needed to address the climate crisis.

You can read Louise’s blog about ‘how insurers must manage climate risk, not worsen it’ here.

Photo (L-R) Lee Harris, Insurance Correspondent, Financial Times (Moderator); Rowan Douglas, CEO, Climate Risk and Resilience, Howden Group Holdings; Tobias Grimm, Chief Climate Scientist, Munich Re; Scott Kelly, Senior Vice President, Risilience; Louise Pryor, Actuary and Chair of Ecology Building Society