Media Coverage
ABI and Prince of Wales urge world to get ClimateWise
Sep 13 2007 Joanne Wallen | Complinet
 | The Association of British Insurers hopes to lead the world's climate change initiatives and gain some regulatory dividends at the same time with the launch of ClimateWise, backed by HRH the Prince of Wales. Some 32 insurance firms have signed up to the initiative, which has developed six major principles aimed at encouraging customers to change their climate-damaging habits and at influencing governments and major organisations in matters of policy.
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| HRH the Prince of Wales backs ABI's climate change initiatives |
Kim Clemo, climate change director for AXA, said the Prince of Wales had asked the industry a year ago what it could do to help tackle climate change, and this initiative was its answer. The principles were developed by a working party that included the ABI and the Prince's business and the environment programme and business in the community group.
Stephen Haddrill, director general of the ABI, told journalists that the initiative was an extension of work the industry started after the storms of 1987 and intensified following the major floods of 2001. The aim, he said, was to ensure that the economy was resilient to future extreme weather conditions. The industry also needed to find a way to handle the huge increase in claims seen since the 1970s.
This would not be an overnight job, however. Haddrill said that given the amount of carbon that had already been "sent up the chimney" in the past 50 years or so, it would take at least 50 years from today to start to reverse the effects on the climate, even if everyone took action immediately.
The insurance industry had accumulated a huge amount of data that it was more than willing to share with industry and governments worldwide, he said.
Ultimately, the insurance sector would be a major beneficiary if climate change were halted or at least tempered. Haddrill admitted that as the risks were reduced, firms would be required to hold less capital. This was, however, "very much in the longer-term," he said.
Challenging the FSA
Haddrill also had a major disagreement with the Financial Services Authority. He told Complinet that the FSA required insurers to hold capital reserves to cover the sorts of storms that occurred once every 200 years. The Government, however, was not matching this with its own investment in flood protection, for example.
The Government also had to be "consistent" in its messages, Haddrill said. There was no point in talking about climate change on the one hand and then building new housing on the flood plains, he said.
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