Insurers Call for Climate Action

A coalition of insurance groups and conservation advocates has just sent a joint letter (PDF) to Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) highlighting “the urgent need to move away from the carbon economy”:

As you know and have highlighted through your leadership over the past few years, unmitigated climate change brings with it increased risk from natural disasters. Most of the world’s foremost scientists have warned that global warming-induced climate fluctuations are likely to cause catastrophic damage, droughts, intensified storms, rising seas, and other potentially cataclysmic problems.

In recognition of these threats and the need to address them through legislative and other actions, we want to bring to your attention a new report entitled “The Insurance Industry and Climate Change – Contribution to the Global Debate” which for the first time states that “the leaders of the world’s largest insurance companies, as represented in The Geneva Association, have identified climate change as their joint longterm priority number one.” We strongly urge you to read the Geneva Association report which can be found here.

The letter is signed by the Association of Bermuda Insurers and Reinsurers, Ceres, the National Wildlife Federation, the Reinsurance Association of America, and the Sierra Club.

Photo via Flickr’s teabird