Combating climate change in the credit crunch

Over the last few years the financial services industry has started to understand the risks of failing to address climate change and none more so than the insurance industry. The increasing number of extreme weather events has impacted on insurance claims and insurance companies have been at the forefront of developing robust climate change strategies. Some companies have taken what could be classed as a short-term financial risk management approach to minimizing exposure to climate change claims and insurers are looking to not just assess and predict climate change but also to actively combat its consequences. Here Claire Davey, Global Marketing Executive and Niall Thorburn, Commercialisation Manager at consultancy firm EcoSecurities, look at how the insurance sector has led the way in carbon neutrality pre-credit crunch and some of the choices it now faces. The question for companies towards the end of 2008 is whether reducing and offsetting their emissions will tighten as rapidly as their credit lines. EcoSecurities works with both project developers and buyers of emission reduction credits.