John Scott MBA, PhD is an insurance industry leader in risk management, sustainable finance and climate change. He is an independent advisory board member for a number of organisations including the World Economic Forum, WEF (Global Risks Report, Net Zero Industry Tracker, Equitable Transition Alliance and the Energy and Industry Intelligence programme) the International Energy Agency, IEA (Financial Institutions Advisory Board) and an Honorary Professor at University College London, UCL (Bartlett School of Sustainable Construction). John is . A sought-after expert on insurance & risk management in topics including technology, climate change, sustainability, global/emerging risks & governance.

He joined Zurich in 2001 becoming Head of Risk Insight in 2007 and was Chief Risk Officer for Zurich’s Global Corporate and Commercial Insurance businesses from 2009 to 2017. In 2018 John took on the role of Head of Sustainability Risk and led the Zurich Group’s engagement on sustainability risk, both internally and externally as the way Zurich delivered its purpose and values.

For the last fifteen years, in his roles as CRO for Commercial Insurance and as Head of Sustainability Risk at Zurich, John increasingly focused on emerging and global risks, in particular sustainability risks and climate change risk in particular. His unique combination of previous roles and experiences in the oil & gas and chemicals industries, together with his involvement in many industry and Government organisations, has given him a deep understanding of the risks and opportunities that climate change presents to companies, governments and society at large.

John is Co-Chair of Climatewise and the Cambridge Institute of Sustainability Leadership (CISL) Insurance Advisory Council and a member of the Institute of Directors Sustainable Business Advisory Board in the UK. He has contributed to industry and Government policy on climate change and green finance, through many organisations including the Bank of England Climate Financial Risk Forum, the UK Government’s Green Finance Taskforce, the UNEP FI working group on TCFD, the CRO Forum, the Geneva Association, the Net Zero Asset Owners Alliance, the European Financial Roundtable and the Institute of International Finance.