Insurance

World Wildlife Fund and the Allianz Group: Climate Change and Insurance: An Agenda for Action in the United States (October 2006). WWF and the Allianz Group have joined forces to produce a report that advances the climate change debate in the insurance industry. The report identifies risks for the sector, emerging physical impacts that will likely be amplified with climate change, and develops actions that demonstrate how insurance providers can respond to these risks in a meaningful and responsible manner.

Lloyd's of London: Climate Change, Adapt or Bust (June 2006). Lloyd's states that climate change will likely lead to increasingly volatile weather, which could have devastating impacts on the world economy as a whole and the insurance industry in particular. The firm argues in the report that insurers must do much more to understand and more actively manage climate change risk.

Marsh: Climate Change: Business Risks and Solutions (April 2006). In this "Risk Alert," BELC member company Marsh describes the potential impact of climate change on business risk, including the strong threat of increasingly volatile weather conditions; impacts on commercial insurance markets, business resources, personnel, and corporate preparedness; and increasing legal and regulatory pressures.

Ceres: Availability and Affordability of Insurance Under Climate Change: A Growing Challenge for the U.S. (December 2005). This Ceres report explores the insurability of risks from climate change, and ways in which insurance affordability and availability could be adversely impacted in the U.S. in coming years. It also includes specific recommendations to address the growing challenge climate change poses for the insurance industry.

Harvard Medical School, Swiss Re and UNDP: Climate Change Futures: Health, Ecological and Economic Dimensions (November 2005). This study from the Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard Medical School, along with co-sponsors Swiss Re and the United Nations Development Programme, shows that climate change will significantly affect the health of humans and ecosystems and these impacts will have economic consequences. The study reports that the insurance industry will be at the center of this issue, absorbing risk and helping society and business to adapt and reduce new risks. (Please note: clicking on the link above will take you to the Climate Change Futures Web site where you can download a pdf of the report).