The First Annual Report of the Guy Carpenter Asia-Pacific Climate Impact Centre
Flooding: The Possible Changes Under Global Warming
Johnny Chan, Director, Guy Carpenter Asia-Pacific Climate Impact Center, City University of Hong Kong
Flood events often occur rather suddenly so there may not be enough time to implement disaster mitigation measures. A good understanding of the causes of individual floods is therefore crucial in increasing the lead time for issuing warnings. From the insurance perspective, such an understanding could provide a better estimate of the possible losses. With global warming being a reality, it would also be of importance to estimate how the frequency of occurrence of flood events may change.
UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen
Despite below-average insured losses in 2009, several international (re)insurers believe climate change is impacting both the number and severity of weather-related events. According to Swiss Re (1) , worldwide insured natural catastrophe losses averaged USD5.1 billion per annum between 1970 and 1989, but they jumped to USD27.1 billion per annum between 1990 and 2009. Munich Re (2) has also strongly advocated the need to tackle climate change, citing a 33 percent jump in the number of weather-related catastrophes in the last few years compared to the 1980s.
GCACIC Publishes Update on 2009 Tropical Cyclone Conditions
The Guy Carpenter Asia-Pacific Climate Impact Centre, a joint initiative of Guy Carpenter & Company, LLC, the leading global risk and reinsurance specialist, and the City University of Hong Kong, announced the publication of an update on 2009 tropical cyclone (TC) activity in the West North Pacific (WNP) region, based on new information for April and May 2009.According to the briefing, oceanic and atmospheric conditions in the Pacific remain in neutral status, with five out of the seven primary forecasts suggesting the possible development of an El Niño event.
Click here for the GCACIC briefing.
Climate Change: Article Index
Part I: A Contested Point You Need to Understand >>
(Monday, May 25, 2009)
Part II: What a Warmer World Could Mean >>
(Tuesday, May 26, 2009)
Part III: Liabilties Heating Up >>
(Wednesday, May 27, 2009)
Part IV: (Re)insurance Industry Response >>
(Thursday, May 28, 2009)
Part V: Reinsurers Remain Vigilant >>
(Friday, May 29, 2009)
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Climate Change, Part V: (Re)insurers Remain Vigilant
Christopher Klein, Head of Global Business Intelligence
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Whether or not you have taken a stance on climate change, the fact remains that this issue will persist in public forum debate and continue to present various risks for the (re)insurance industry. But in addition to factoring potential storm increases into modeling and understanding the possible liabilities that may arise, carriers need to keep abreast of how the debate — and the data — develop.
Climate Change, Part IV: (Re)insurance Industry Response
Christopher Klein, Head of Global Business Intelligence
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As the debate on climate change has progressed, the (re)insurance industry has not stood by as mere observers. Although agreement on the issue is far from universal, the matter is being addressed, including an adjustment to catastrophe modeling, the creation of new (re)insurance products, and the construction of defenses against climate change-related claims.
Climate Change, Part III: Liabilities Heating Up
Christopher Klein, Head of Global Business Intelligence
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Whether it is a matter of calculating the potential catastrophic loss due to increased storm activity or the hurt caused in court, the potential liability of climate change is a threat for the (re)insurance industry to consider. It’s not just the rising temperatures but the climate change debate itself that has lead to liabilities and losses. Class action lawsuits have charged oil, gas, and chemical companies, as well as other groups, with negligence in causing climate change and resultant property damage. Meanwhile, recent severe catastrophe events have stressed the (re)insurance industry’s coffers and cast doubt over the accuracy of previous risk assessments.
Climate Change, Part II: What a Warmer World Could Mean
Christopher Klein, Head of Global Business Intelligence
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The scientific debate wrestles over both causation and existence of climate change. Putting aside any particular political stance, it behooves carriers to examine what could happen should the world indeed be getting warmer. Without getting wrapped up in scare tactics or predictions of worst-case scenarios, the potential impact of climate change can be examined to determine possible points of liability and loss for the (re)insurance industry. If temperatures do rise, the potential effect on a realm of issues — including property damage, health, security, and the economy — could change the way (re)insurers conduct certain areas of their business.
Climate Change, Part I: A Contested Point You Need to Understand
Christopher Klein, Head of Global Business Intelligence
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Climate change is happening. Or is it? It is caused by human action. Or is it? The arguments are bantered back and forth in a crossfire of disagreement over an issue that holds political, social, and emotional significance around the world. For every position there are sympathetic experts willing to present supporting evidence, which, in turn, is inevitably skewered by those holding a contrary view.
