At COP28 held in Dubai in 2023, Sri Lanka stepped onto the world stage and declared that
we would need an estimated USD 100 billion to reach net zero by 2050. This staggering
figure, which excludes climate adaptation costs, amounts to nearly 1.2 times our annual
GDP, underscoring the scale of investment required to secure a sustainable future for fellow
Sri Lankans.
This call for financing climate action comes at a time when Sri Lanka is still recovering from
the effects of a global pandemic, an economic crisis, and political unrest, all of which have
deeply impacted lives, livelihoods, and the nation’s socio-economic fabric. Moving forward,
any approach to closing this climate finance gap must strike a careful balance between the
environmental, social, and economic realities of the current day and its impact on future
generations.
Recognising this urgency, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka released its Sustainable Finance
Roadmap 2.0, designed to “support financial institutions in scaling up their contribution to the
environmental and social goals of Sri Lanka”. The roadmap outlines action across four
strategic areas:
● Funding sustainable development
● Managing environmental and social risks
● Reporting and disclosure
● Governance and coordination
Successfully implementing this roadmap will require input from a wide range of disciplines.
As risk professionals experienced in using data to help entities make financial sense of
future uncertainty, actuaries are well placed to contribute meaningfully to this national effort.
Actuarial work is grounded in systems thinking, risk management, and data-driven insights.
As such, we can leverage our expertise to untangle the complex, interconnected challenges
of climate change and sustainable finance.
How can actuaries support the Sustainable Finance Roadmap 2.0?
● Embedding climate and sustainability into risk frameworks
As risk professionals driven by public interest, actuaries can support governments,
regulators, and financial institutions in integrating climate and sustainability risks into
supervisory and enterprise risk management frameworks.
● Innovating financial products for inclusion and impact
Actuaries can help design and price innovative financial products such as green, social,
and sustainability bonds to attract climate finance, as well as climate-indexed, parametric,
and micro insurance to provide vulnerable communities access to financial support.
● Building capacity and cross-sector knowledge
Throughout our careers, actuaries are trained to take a bird’s-eye view of complex issues,
making us well-suited to help decision-makers connect the dots. Actuaries can support
capacity-building efforts by training government officials, regulators, board members,
finance professionals, and other key stakeholders to better understand and address
climate-related risks and opportunities.
● Improving data quality and transparency
The saying “what gets measured, gets managed” holds especially true in sustainability.
Data is at the heart of everything we do as actuaries (we are the original data scientists!),
making us uniquely qualified to lead the development of robust data collection and
management systems. Improving the credibility of sustainability and climate-related data
can enable organisations to quantify risks with reasonable accuracy and build trust with
stakeholders, resulting in a lower risk of greenwashing (misleading claims about
environmental performance).
● Supporting sustainability and climate-related disclosure requirements
In early 2024, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka announced that entities
listed in the Colombo Stock Exchange and those that report under the Sri Lanka
Accounting Standards will be required to adopt Sustainability Disclosure Standards
(SLFRS S1 and SLFRS S2). This mandatory reporting requirement came into effect on 1
January 2025 and will be phased in over the next few years. Actuaries can help
organisations quantify and communicate climate risks and opportunities, conduct climate
scenario analyses, and set climate targets backed by robust risk modelling and
monitoring frameworks.
● Facilitating collaboration across sectors and professions
With a multidisciplinary foundation spanning mathematics, economics, finance, and data
science, actuaries are uniquely equipped to serve as translators and connectors across
industries and professions. We can bridge communication gaps between regulators,
financial institutions, and sustainability experts, as well as participate in multi-stakeholder
working groups to advance the roadmap.
A Call to Action
Climate change is no longer a distant threat – it is a present and pressing reality. The people
of Sri Lanka are counting on those with vision, skill, and ambition to come together to
address one of the greatest challenges of our time. The path forward lies in embodying the
principles of environmental, social, and economic sustainability – aligning people, planet, and
profit in what we do.
If you are a government official, regulator, or corporate leader seeking support in
understanding and managing sustainability and climate-related risks and opportunities, we
invite you to connect with the Actuarial Association of Sri Lanka (AASL) at
secretary@actuaries.org.lk. We are ready to help you build climate resilience through
data-driven decision-making.
If you are a student or young professional who is curious, analytical, and driven by purpose,
consider exploring a career in actuarial science. It is a globally respected, well-compensated
profession with growing relevance in emerging fields such as climate change, AI, and social
impact. Contact AASL (https://actuaries.org.lk/contact) or follow us on social media to learn
more about actuaries.
Alternatively, join us at the Fourth South Asian Actuarial Conference
(https://conference.actuaries.org.lk/), from 18th to 20th June 2025 at the Shangri-La,
Colombo. This is a great opportunity to explore the actuarial profession and the impact we
have within the financial sector and beyond under the theme “Brewing the Perfect Blend:
Actuaries, the master blenders of risk”.
We are actuaries. We are sustainability advocates.
We are here to help Sri Lanka build a resilient, inclusive, and sustainable future.
