Citing the enormous risks that insurance companies face from escalating losses caused by extreme weather events and the financial risks and opportunities associated with climate change, 20 leading U.S. investors urged 30 of the largest publicly-held insurance companies in North America to disclose their financial exposure from climate change and steps they are taking to reduce those financial impacts. (Company list is below)
The investors, who collectively control more than $800 billion in assets, co-signed letters sent today requesting that the climate risk reports be completed and shared with investors by August 2006. The reports should address the multiple types of risk and opportunity that insurers face in regard to climate change, including physical loss, legal and investment risks, as well as opportunities for new markets and products in a changing economic environment.
The investor request comes on the heels of devastating back-to-back hurricane seasons in the U.S. that caused a record $30 billion in insured losses in 2004 and as much as $60 billion in insured losses from Hurricane Katrina alone in 2005.
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