Here we review recent GC Capital Ideas stories focused on climate change.

Guy Carpenter Asia-Pacific Climate Impact Centre Publishes New Annual Report: The Guy Carpenter Asia-Pacific Climate Impact Centre (GCACIC), a joint initiative of the City University of Hong Kong and Guy Carpenter, released its fifth annual report presenting the highlights of the GCACIC’s research activities from the past year. The report details the findings of 16 projects conducted by the GCACIC, which focus on climate problems in the Asia-Pacific region as well as on a global scale.

Read the article>>

Third U.S. Climate Report Is Available: The White House released the Third U.S. National Climate Assessment report on May 6, 2014. The report was constructed with input of many U.S. scientists and coordinated by a cross section of U.S. interests including the energy sector.

Read the article>>

Responding to Climate Change:  It is vital for (re)insurers to consider how climate change could impact future losses. Global warming potentially poses a serious financial threat to the insurance industry with implications for catastrophe risk perception, pricing and modeling assumptions.

Read the article>>

Climate Change: A Look into the Future: Global climate models project a best estimate of a further two to four degree (Celsius) increase in the mean temperature of the Earth by the end of this century. Although this may seem insignificant on an intuitive level, the resulting impacts are of significant concern. Sea-level rise is the most significant threat for coastal areas as a result of melting glaciers. Apart from this threat, changing weather patterns will result in drought and inland flood threats for some areas.

Read the article>>

Global Warming: Adaptation Measures: The IPCC publications represent scientific consensus among many of the world’s top scientists (and scientific consensus is difficult to achieve). Their findings are generally consistent with the broader scientific literature.

Read the article>>

Global Warming: Losses: Economic losses resulting from natural disasters increased from USD75.5 billion in the 1960s to USD659.9 billion in the 1990s (IPCC AR4, 2007 - Working Group II, Section 1.2.8.4). Insured losses have also increased, and “the dominant signal is of significant increase in the values of exposure” (IPCC AR4, 2007 - Working Group II, Section 1.3.8.4). Furthermore, the IPCC states that “failure to adjust for time-variant economic factors yields loss amounts that are not directly comparable and a pronounced upward trend for purely economic reasons.”

Read the article>>

Click here to register to receive e-mail updates >>

The Guy Carpenter Asia-Pacific Climate Impact Centre (GCACIC), a joint initiative of the City University of Hong Kong and Guy Carpenter, today released its fifth annual report presenting the highlights of the GCACIC’s research activities from the past year. The report details the findings of 16 projects conducted by the GCACIC, which focus on climate problems in the Asia-Pacific region as well as on a global scale.

Continue reading…

The Guy Carpenter Asia-Pacific Climate Impact Centre (GCACIC), a joint initiative of Guy Carpenter & Company and City University of Hong Kong, released its third annual report, which presents the findings of the 27 research projects conducted by GCACIC members on climate issues in the Asia-Pacific region in 2011.

Continue reading…

David Lewin, Managing Director
Contact

EU Directive and Italian Statutory Provisions

With EU Directive n.35/2004 on Environmental Liability (ELD), the European legislator aimed to establish a harmonized legal framework based on the principle that “the polluter pays.” The main objective of ELD is to prevent and remedy environmental damage, which is defined as damage to protected species and natural habitats (nature), damage to water and damage to land (soil).

Continue reading…

A large fire broke out at Royal Dutch Shell’s massive Pulau Bukom refinery near Singapore on September 28, damaging parts of the plant and prompting the closure of the entire facility. Reports said the fire at the 500,000 barrels-a-day refinery in Pulau Bukom, an island 5 kilometers (3 miles) off Singapore, started at about 13:15 local time (05:15 UTC) and burned for around 36 hours. Eyewitnesses also reportedly heard three large explosions at the facility. Shell has stated it is in the process of shutting down the whole refinery. Reports said the fire is the worst to affect the plant in 23 years.

Continue reading…

A large fire broke out at Royal Dutch Shell’s massive Pulau Bukom refinery near Singapore on September 28, damaging parts of the plant and prompting the closure of some units at the facility. Reports said the fire at the 500,000 barrels-a-day refinery in Pulau Bukom, an island 5 kilometers (3 miles) off Singapore, started at about 13:15 local time (05:15 UTC) and has now been burning for more than a day. Eyewitnesses also reportedly heard three large explosions at the facility. Reports said the fire is the worst to affect the site in 23 years.

Continue reading…

Ed Sweeney, Executive Vice President
Contact

The Deepwater Horizon event is likely to cause insured losses of at least USD1.5 billion, if indemnities hold, and USD3-4 billion if they do not. There is unquestionably an increased focus among industry participants on the financial and social risks of deepwater drilling and production.

Continue reading…

A toxic sludge that poured from a reservoir at an aluminium plant in the Hungarian town of Ajka has killed eight people after more than 700,000 million cubic meters (25 million cubic feet) of industrial waste inundated surrounding towns and villages and contaminated rivers. Officials said a dam wall at the Ajka Timföldgyár plant was breached on October 4, unleashing a two meter (6.5 foot) wave of red sludge that affected 41 square kilometers (16 square miles) of land, including the villages of Kolontar, Devecser and Somlovasarhely. Hungary’s government declared a state of emergency in three western counties of the country after property and infrastructure were damaged. Around 150 people were injured in what officials are describing as Hungary’s worst-ever chemical accident. Those who lost their lives are believed to have drowned and several burns and eye ailments were reported among the injured.

Continue reading…

The very competitive pollution liability and combined general liability/pollution liability segment exhibited insurance rate changes that were in a range from flat to a 15 percent decrease. The competitive market led to more insurers offering coverage for non-owned disposal sites (NODS) on a blanket basis and broadened mold clean-up coverage. The cost cap segment is a smaller market exhibiting signs of hardness not seen in the other environmental segments with primary rate changes ranging from flat to 10 percent increases. Developing issues in the environmental space include Chinese drywall, global warming-related litigations and green house gas effects.

Continue reading…