Business leaders from over 140 global companies are calling for concerted long-term action by all sectors, communities, countries and governments to tackle climate change, echoing insurance sector calls.
The Poznan Communiqué’s publication coincides with the start of the second week of the 190-nation United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) currently taking place in Poznan, Poland.
The Communiqué is the product of the Prince of Wales’s Corporate Leaders’ Group on Climate Change, managed by Cambridge University’s Programme for Industry. Lloyd’s is a signatory.
Urgency stands out as a theme in the Communiqué’s key recommendations. Parties urge “decisive action”, calling for increased momentum of efforts on climate change throughout the global economic downturn. Such momentum, they say, will ‘stimulate the global economy’; and avoid the potential of spiralling costs should such action be delayed.
Insurance sector priorities
The Communiqué echoes calls by leading representatives of the insurance industry, whose ClimateWise principles bind the group.
These principles advocate that current negotiations for a new climate change treaty commit all governments to taking steps to adapt their countries to the growing threat of climate change.
The representatives say such adaptation commitments are needed for insurers to be able to do their utmost to help customers worldwide manage mounting climate-related risk.
“The insurance sector is one that most directly experiences the impacts of climate change…Insurance cannot be an alternative to adaptation, rather robust adaptation is a necessary condition for insurers to play a full role,” according to Andrew Torrance, Chairman of ClimateWise, a group bringing together 42 key members of the global insurance industry.
Warning from insurers on climate change effects
Insurers warn that risks are increasing in both scale and unpredictability. Annual insurance losses from windstorms could rise by two thirds later in this century, and the chances have more than doubled of more hot summers in Europe, like 2003 when at least 22,000 people died.
Besides binding mitigation measures, such as medium and long-term emissions-reduction targets, and adequate adaptation plans, there are two other areas that the ClimateWise principles set out for a new treaty.
Critical data collection issues
The insurers’ group calls for a review of synergies between adaptation and mitigation measures, along with a clear, long term international arrangement for collecting and sharing climate data, which is currently often insufficient or subject to restrictions on its use.
“Data is the life blood of the insurance industry. Data is critical to risk management both now and in the future,” said Trevor Maynard, Manager of the emerging risks team at Lloyd’s, and ClimateWise representative.
ClimateWise, launched in 2007 by HRH The Prince of Wales, is a collaborative industry initiative whose members are committed to taking action to reduce the risk of climate change and to reporting publicly on their own performance.
The UNFCCC talks, which run from December 1–12, are part of a two-year drive to achieve an ambitious new UN climate treaty by the end of 2009. A new deal would aim to involve outsiders led by the United States– which are not part of the existing Kyoto pact.
