Mutual Fire Insurance of British Columbia (MFI) provides farm, commercial, auto, and home insurance solutions across Canada, from British Columbia (BC) to Ontario. Founded in 1902 by 44 local farmers and business owners in the Fraser Valley seeking reasonably priced insurance, the mutual continues to address climate risk while protecting members and policyholders from their front door to the outer perimeter of their communities. Against the backdrop of a changing landscape of climate-related hazards, MFI remains committed to developing solutions and partnerships that strengthen individual and community preparedness.
Companywide engagement in ESG, sustainability and climate risk initiatives
MFI’s approach to the ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) pillars, sustainability, and climate risk relies on organisation-wide engagement. To embed these priorities across the business, it established both a sustainability committee and a purpose committee.
These priorities are reflected not only in the mutual’s policies and decision-making, but also in its engagement with the wider community. This includes partnering with FireSmart and a local fire department to view a regional golf course as an outdoor classroom for employees. FireSmart is a national programme to help Canadians increase neighbourhood resilience to wildfire and minimise its negative impacts.
Dynamic risk assessment and adaptations
In line with its risk management framework, MFI regularly reviews and updates its risk assessment models to reflect current and emerging climate trends.
As part of this work, MFI has integrated wildfire peril scoring and FireSmart practices into its rating approach, supported by research indicating that proven FireSmart mitigation measures can reduce wildfire risk by up to 75%. This is broadly consistent with outcomes observed among its own policyholders. During the Logan Lake, BC wildfire, for example, homes built with resilient materials and maintained in line with FireSmart practices fared much better under wildfire conditions.
MFI is also investing in enhanced flood modelling to help identify where floods are most likely to occur and how they may evolve, enabling more informed underwriting decisions, rate setting, and long-term portfolio stability.
By incorporating wildfire mitigation data, flood projections, and evolving climate indicators, MFI continues to refine its insurance products and coverage options to better reflect both current and future risks.
Encouraging risk mitigation and resilience
MFI also works closely with policyholders to help reduce the impact of climate-related disasters by providing guidance on wildfire safety, flood prevention, and property maintenance. It also uses discounts and incentives to encourage the adoption of risk management measures. At the same time, MFI engages with the wider public through targeted educational resources, workshops, and regular communication that supports the uptake of risk reduction practices.
Senior leaders at MFI recently participated in CAMIC’s Lobby Day, engaging directly with Canadian government officials in a focused discussion on climate and insurance. This opportunity allowed MFI to highlight key climate concerns and demonstrate the value of proactive risk mitigation.
Through these conversations, MFI helped educate elected officials on the importance of addressing climate risk, emphasising how advanced modelling tools and data driven insights can support informed decision making and resilience planning across Canada’s insurance landscape.
Collaborating with local communities
Partnerships play another important role in MFI’s approach to disaster preparedness and response. The mutual works with local governments, emergency services, and community organisations to share knowledge and resources, support coordinated emergency responses, and strengthen post-disaster recovery.
Claims management and rapid response
When climate-related disasters occur, MFI’s rapid response teams guide affected customers through each stage of the claims process, including the documentation and procedures required to access funds for repairs and recovery more easily.
Innovative tools and future outlook
MFI uses a range of tools to assess its sustainability and climate impact while also managing concentrations of risk, particularly in regions with greater climate exposure.
One of these tools is iSDG, an insurance-calibrated Sustainable Development Goal calculator that analyses the company’s data and assesses performance across two primary areas: operations and underwriting activities. The iSDG calculator was initially developed through a partnership between ICMIF and Swiss Re. The iSDG calculator is the first tool of its kind to measure sustainability impact against insurance SDGs and is based on two main criteria: insurance portfolios, and business operations. MFI works with sim2sustain (sim), a Swiss company specialising in sustainability assessments, which provides detailed feedback on the results and guidance on how the company can improve its score.
Another instrument used is an Accumulation Management Tool, which helps manage concentrations of risk, particularly in regions with higher climate exposure. When the tool shows that the company is overexposed in a high-risk area, MFI considers a range of strategic responses. These may include withdrawing from the region, increasing rates in the affected area, ending relationships with brokers whose portfolios are heavily concentrated in high-risk climate zones, increasing deductibles, reducing peril coverage, or adding additional rules to COPE (Construction, Occupancy, Protection, Exposure) considerations.
OSFI B-15 climate risk management guideline
MFI’s climate risk initiatives aim to align with the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions’ B-15 guideline, which introduced mandatory climate risk management and disclosure expectations for federally regulated financial institutions (FRFIs) in Canada, as well as with the expectations of the British Columbia Financial Services Authority (BCFSA).
Investment in sustainable practices
MFI runs a range of initiatives to reduce its carbon footprint, including the purchase of carbon offsets which includes 100,000 bees on its rooftop. These efforts are detailed in the mutual’s annual sustainability report, which tracks progress against its environmental goals.
MFI’s commitment to sustainability is also reflected in its investment practices, with equity investments systematically assessed against a range of ESG criteria. In addition to monitoring existing holdings, MFI also continues to invest in green bonds as part of its portfolio.
As of June 2026, MFI has introduced a new coverage option, EnviroProtect, to help insureds build back in a more resilient way in the event of a loss. EnviroProtect helps cover the increased cost of repairing or rebuilding a dwelling using green construction and environmentally friendly products, and over time this approach can drive a meaningful, lasting impact by supporting more sustainable communities and reducing environmental damage across the housing stock. Work is also underway to develop MFI’s first portfolio-level estimate of Scope 3 insurance-associated emissions across its farm underwriting segment.
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