Tuesday, May 03, 2005

Climate Change is Risk and Business Opportunity - Swiss Re

The insurance industry believes climate change represents a huge risk for its sector but a business opportunity as well, Christopher Walker of Swiss Re told an audience of public health experts at the Harvard Medical School today.
Mr. Walker’s lecture concentrated on climate change as a financial issue from the point of view of the insurance and reinsurance industry’s potentially rising costs and risks. Carbon is becoming a tradable commodity, allowing companies to hedge their risks, profit from emissions assets and turn this new discipline into a competitive advantage, he said. Walker added that the insurance industry can be a facilitator of emissions reduction activities, acting as a catalyst for the development of renewable, emission reduction and energy-efficient technologies.
Swiss Re also aims to reduce its own greenhouse gas emissions footprint through improved energy management in its buildings and through the promotion and use of resource-preserving energy systems such as renewables, he said.

  • More on the Harvard lecture
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