"With this insurance, we have an extra layer of protection for the safety of the ecological environment and the development of the company, and we are more at ease. Qian Ronghua, general manager of Shanghai Yisheng Marine Storage Co., Ltd., sighed after signing the policy. A few days ago, the company, located in Gaodong Town, Pudong New Area, successfully signed the first "Shanghai Pudong New Area Environmental Pollution Liability Insurance Model Clauses" policy in the insurance industry with CPIC Property & Casualty Shanghai Branch. This is the first policy to be implemented since the pilot implementation of the environmental pollution liability insurance system in Pudong New Area, marking a more complete ecological and environmental risk prevention and control system in Pudong New Area.
Precise planning, the first order was landed in 4 days
"Now it seems that the market response of insurance is still good, and the anxiety can finally be put down. She Qiannan, from the Ecological and Environmental Protection Department of the Pudong New Area Ecological Environment Bureau, said that environmental pollution liability insurance has been attracting much attention, and various work around this insurance is also in full swing. On February 18 this year, the District Ecology and Environment Bureau officially announced the first batch of insurable units and the calculation method of the minimum liability limit. February 19th. The Shanghai Insurance Association issued the Model Clauses for Environmental Pollution Liability Insurance in Pudong New Area, Shanghai. On March 1, the District Ecology and Environment Bureau specially organized a publicity and implementation activity for the first batch of insured units, focusing on "how to insure, who to insure, how to calculate the amount of insurance" and other questions in detail, and more than 170 units in the list attended one after another. On March 5, the first model clause policy of environmental pollution liability insurance in Pudong New Area was officially launched.
It seems easy to land your first policy in 4 days, but it is actually based on adequate preparation.
According to reports, Pudong New Area has been working hard to establish an environmental pollution liability insurance system in high-risk areas of the environment, and as an important measure to build a modern environmental governance system strategic deployment, hoping to solve the problem of environmental pollution damage through insurance tools in a socialized and market-oriented way, so as to promote enterprises to strengthen environmental risk management, reduce the occurrence of pollution accidents, and in the event of pollution accidents, be able to respond quickly, timely compensation, and effectively protect the rights and interests of pollution victims. In addition, with the help of the "law of large numbers" of insurance, the pressure on enterprises to pay for pollution accidents can be effectively dispersed.
Article 17 of the Several Provisions on the Development of Green Finance in Pudong New Area, Shanghai, which came into effect on July 1, 2022, specifically states: "Enterprises engaged in high-risk environmental risks involving heavy metals, hazardous wastes, toxic and harmful substances in Pudong New Area shall take out environmental pollution liability insurance. "Starting from the second half of 2022, under the guidance of the Municipal Bureau of Ecology and Environment, the Shanghai Supervision Bureau of the State Financial Supervision and Administration Bureau, the Shanghai Local Financial Supervision and Administration Bureau and other departments, combined with the actual situation of Pudong New Area, the District Ecology and Environment Bureau has started the drafting of the environmental pollution liability insurance management measures.
On December 25, 2023, the city's first normative document on environmental pollution liability insurance, the Interim Measures for the Administration of Environmental Pollution Liability Insurance in Pudong New Area (hereinafter referred to as the "Interim Measures"), was jointly issued in the name of the Shanghai Pudong New Area People's Government, the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Ecology and Environment, the Shanghai Supervision Bureau of the State Financial Supervision Administration, and the Shanghai Local Financial Supervision and Administration Bureau.
Since then, the District Ecology and Environment Bureau has determined the first batch of 175 insurable units and organized publicity and implementation activities until the first order is landed.
She Qiannan introduced that at present, most of the units that should be insured have taken the initiative to consult and communicate and expressed their willingness to insure. What is surprising is that some companies outside the list took the initiative to express their willingness to apply for insurance after learning about the insurance information.
Finely calculated, graded "customized policy"
The reporter noted that Shanghai Yisheng Marine Storage Co., Ltd. was insured according to the minimum liability limit, and the insured amount was 7.52 million yuan. What is the minimum liability limit and how is the figure of 7.52 million derived?
"The environmental risk profile of each enterprise is different, and the corresponding minimum liability limit is also different, which is calculated according to each environmental factor. The staff of the project support team from the Green Finance Research Center of Fudan University introduced the calculation method to the reporter in detail through a calculation table. The whole calculation system is divided into four parts: the risk level of water environmental events, the risk level of atmospheric environmental events, the amount of wastewater discharge, and the maximum amount of soil-related risk substances within the plant boundary. The first two items are subdivided into three grades: general, large and major according to the risk level, corresponding to different limits, such as the water environment risk level assessment is significant, the limit is 2 million yuan. The other two are determined according to the volume, for example, if the wastewater discharge is 0-50 tons/day, the corresponding limit is 400,000 yuan. The four indicators are cumulatively added to obtain the cumulative liability limit, with a minimum of 1.5 million yuan and a maximum of 10 million yuan. The minimum limit of liability is calculated by multiplying the cumulative limit of liability by the adjustment factor. It is worth mentioning that in order to strengthen the support for small and micro enterprises, the minimum liability limit is adjusted by 20%, and the premium is also reduced accordingly.
"On the surface, there are only four basic items, but in fact, the comprehensive risk assessment of enterprises should be comprehensively considered for many risk factors. The annual minimum liability limit will also change according to the company's production status and environmental management level. According to the above-mentioned staff, the Pudong New Area Ecological Environment Bureau provides a professional minimum liability calculator, and enterprises can automatically calculate the minimum liability limit after filling in the relevant information according to their own situation, and the technical support team will also track and evaluate.
She Qiannan added: "Fine calculation is also one of the characteristics of environmental pollution liability insurance in Pudong New Area, and more refined elements are set on the calculation method of the minimum liability limit, the calculation results are more reasonable, and the acceptance of enterprises will be higher, which will promote enterprises to improve their processes and protect the environment." ”
It can be seen from the terms of the environmental pollution liability insurance in Pudong New Area, Shanghai provided by CPIC Property & Casualty Shanghai Branch, that the insurance company will provide comprehensive protection for the insured's eight liabilities, including personal injury or property loss of the third party, damage to the ecological environment, emergency disposal and pollution removal, emergency liability compensation, legal fees, investigation and evaluation costs, accidental pollution from road transport and pollution from natural disasters. According to reports, Shanghai Yisheng Marine Storage Co., Ltd. has an insurance amount of 7.52 million yuan, which belongs to small and micro enterprises, and the minimum liability limit is discounted by 20% on the original basis, and only about 100,000 yuan of premiums need to be paid every year.
In fact, this insurance also has the nature of public welfare and inclusiveness. Zhu Minsheng, head of the green insurance department of CPIC Property & Casualty Shanghai Branch, said, "For insurance companies, judging from the current implementation volume, it is not enough to make a profit, and once an environmental pollution incident occurs, the amount of compensation they face is still very large." For small and micro enterprises, spending a small amount of money can provide more protection, and can solve urgent needs at critical moments. ”
Carefully laid out and prepared to write the "second half of the article"
To allow enterprises to take the initiative to purchase environmental pollution liability insurance, the protection of rights and interests is the foundation.
She Qiannan introduced that the "Interim Measures" have a number of rigid requirements for underwriting insurance institutions, such as requiring a good business reputation, matching solvency, and requiring insurance companies to withdraw a certain percentage of the premium every year to provide environmental risk prevention and control services for the insured units. At the same time, the Interim Measures also stipulate a retrospective period of up to three years, which will help solve the corresponding cumulative risk of environmental pollution and give enterprises more peace of mind.
No environmental pollution incidents are the common goal of all parties. CPIC Property & Casualty Shanghai Branch, which won the first order, said it had made plans for risk prevention and control in the later stage. Zhu Minsheng introduced that the company has its own risk engineering department, which will regularly carry out risk surveys in enterprises, and will also hire professional third-party institutions to carry out differentiated services on the basis of "environmental steward" inspections in Pudong New Area to help enterprises achieve risk reduction;
According to the Interim Measures, units responsible for the collection, storage, transportation, utilization and disposal of hazardous wastes within the administrative area of Pudong New Area, or enterprises engaged in high-risk environmental risks involving heavy metals, hazardous wastes, toxic and harmful substances, shall take out environmental pollution liability insurance.
She Qiannan said: "We have formulated a corresponding mechanism, such as including the insurance situation into the Pudong New Area ecological environment credit evaluation index system, and ordering those who have not applied for insurance or renewed insurance after the expiration of the insurance period, and will downgrade their ecological and environmental credit evaluation for the current year by one level. The credit rating of enterprises is related to the frequency of random inspections, the depth of inspections, and the evaluation of excellence, etc., and companies with a D rating will also be warned and interviewed. ”
As enterprises improve their risk prevention and control capabilities and improve their processes, the directory of insurable units will also change. She Qiannan introduced that the annual catalogue of insurable units will be publicized in the fourth quarter of the previous year, in addition to the publicized insurable units, other units with environmental pollution risks are also encouraged to actively insure.
"Small insurance policies" will also affect the green finance market in the future.
Professor Li Zhiqing of the Green Finance Research Center of Fudan University is the head of the technical support team of environmental pollution liability insurance of the Pudong New Area Ecology and Environment Bureau, and is deeply involved in all aspects of the pilot work of environmental pollution liability insurance. He believes that the core of the "Interim Measures" is to straighten out the relationship between the government and the market, give full play to the role of professional financial institutions, help enterprises establish a better prevention mechanism, improve the efficiency of risk prevention, do a good job of prevention in advance, and share the risk of environmental pollution. "Market risks are sometimes impossible to prevent, but the involvement of financial institutions can help reduce risks, and at the same time, there is compensation afterwards, so as to minimize losses. Li Zhiqing said.
The significance of the environmental pollution liability insurance system does not stop at improving the risk compensation ability of enterprises. Li Zhiqing also described to reporters the "roadmap" he planned for the development of green finance. Li Zhiqing said that the environmental risk assessment mechanism can be extended to the carbon market, such as green and low-carbon transportation, green and low-carbon buildings, green and low-carbon manufacturing and other processes, "such as the implementation of carbon accounting, carbon footprint management, etc., behind the implementation of environmental pollution liability insurance, is a clearer definition of pollutants, which can also be used for reference in other work." In addition, the evaluation results are conducive to enterprises to carry out green credit, green financing, and realize the linkage of guaranteed loans, so as to release economic growth momentum and realize "one policy solves multiple problems".