Egypt's CBE issues EGP55b in T-bills    Egypt, Norway's Scatec explore deeper cooperation in renewable energy    Emergency summit in Doha as Gaza toll rises, Israel targets Qatar    Egypt's EDA, Korean pharma firms explore investment opportunities    CBE, banks to launch card tokenization on Android mobile apps    CIB completes EGP 2.3bn securitization for GlobalCorp in seventh issuance    Ex-IDF chief says Gaza war casualties exceed 200,000, legal advice 'never a constraint'    Right-wing figures blame 'the Left' for Kirk killing, some urge ban on Democratic Party    Egypt's FM heads to Doha for talks on Israel escalation    Egypt strengthens inter-ministerial cooperation to upgrade healthcare sector    Egyptian government charts new policies to advance human development    Egypt advances plans to upgrade historic Cairo with Azbakeya, Ataba projects    Egyptian pound ends week lower against US dollar – CBE    Egypt expresses condolences to Sudan after deadly Darfur landslides    Egypt hosts G20 meeting for 1st time outside member states    Lebanese Prime Minister visits Egypt's Grand Egyptian Museum    Egypt to tighten waste rules, cut rice straw fees to curb pollution    Egypt seeks Indian expertise to boost pharmaceutical industry    Egypt prepares unified stance ahead of COP30 in Brazil    Egypt recovers collection of ancient artefacts from Netherlands    Egypt harvests 315,000 cubic metres of rainwater in Sinai as part of flash flood protection measures    Egyptian, Ugandan Presidents open business forum to boost trade    Al-Sisi says any party thinking Egypt will neglect water rights is 'completely mistaken'    Egypt's Sisi, Uganda's Museveni discuss boosting ties    Egypt, Huawei explore healthcare digital transformation cooperation    Foreign, housing ministers discuss Egypt's role in African development push    Greco-Roman rock-cut tombs unearthed in Egypt's Aswan    Egypt reveals heritage e-training portal    Sisi launches new support initiative for families of war, terrorism victims    Egypt expands e-ticketing to 110 heritage sites, adds self-service kiosks at Saqqara    Palm Hills Squash Open debuts with 48 international stars, $250,000 prize pool    On Sport to broadcast Pan Arab Golf Championship for Juniors and Ladies in Egypt    Golf Festival in Cairo to mark Arab Golf Federation's 50th anniversary    Germany among EU's priciest labour markets – official data    Paris Olympic gold '24 medals hit record value    A minute of silence for Egyptian sports    Russia says it's in sync with US, China, Pakistan on Taliban    It's a bit frustrating to draw at home: Real Madrid keeper after Villarreal game    Shoukry reviews with Guterres Egypt's efforts to achieve SDGs, promote human rights    Sudan says countries must cooperate on vaccines    Johnson & Johnson: Second shot boosts antibodies and protection against COVID-19    Egypt to tax bloggers, YouTubers    Egypt's FM asserts importance of stability in Libya, holding elections as scheduled    We mustn't lose touch: Muller after Bayern win in Bundesliga    Egypt records 36 new deaths from Covid-19, highest since mid June    Egypt sells $3 bln US-dollar dominated eurobonds    Gamal Hanafy's ceramic exhibition at Gezira Arts Centre is a must go    Italian Institute Director Davide Scalmani presents activities of the Cairo Institute for ITALIANA.IT platform    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



Ban Ki-Moon, Obama in insurance pledges at Paris COP21 climate talks
Published in Albawaba on 01 - 12 - 2015

Ban Ki-Moon, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, and President Obama of the United States, both made pledges to step up the role of insurance in protecting the most vulnerable against the impacts of climate change yesterday.
Speaking at the Paris COP21 climate talks yesterday, these two world leaders demonstrated the vital role that insurance, reinsurance and risk transfer has to play in helping to make the world more climate secure.
With weather and climate related disaster losses thought to be rising in many regions of the world, and with an expectation that this rise is exacerbated by and will continue as a warmer and more volatile climate contributes to increasing economic losses, the need to put in place insurance, reinsurance and risk capacity to protect the most vulnerable is becoming increasingly urgent.
The COP21 climate change summit, taking place in Paris over the next fortnight, features leaders and negotiators from around 195 countries who will try to reach an agreement targeting a reduction in carbon emissions and a limit on warming of 2 degrees C.
Alongside any agreements on carbon and warming are other key topics, one of which is the subject of loss and damages associated with weather and climate event frequency and severity.
There is agreement that more needs to be done to protect some of the most vulnerable nations from the impacts of severe weather, rising seas and potentially more devastating storms caused by our changing climate.
One of the sticking points in the negotiations previously has been the subject of loss and damage and how to protect the most vulnerable from climate effects which may have been caused by the most economically developed nations emissions. Insurance facilities and increased insurance penetration are one key topic likely to come up repeatedly at COP21 over the coming weeks.
During the first day yesterday (November 30th), UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon launched an initiative which aims to build climate resilience in the world's most vulnerable countries, aiming to "strengthen the ability of countries to anticipate hazards, absorb shocks, and reshape development to reduce climate risks."
The UN Secretary-General's Climate Resilience Initiative – Anticipate, Absorb, Reshape – aims to assist those living in at-risk coastal areas just a few meters above existing sea levels and those living in areas at risk of droughts and floods, communities for whom climate change or warming is perhaps the biggest threat.
Insurance and social protection coverage is a key area of this initiative and Ban Ki-Moon explained that the Secretary-General's Climate Resilience Initiative will work with existing partners such as the Africa Risk Capacity (ARC), the risk pooling initiative that targets increasing insurance penetration and food security in the region.
Ban Ki-Moon's initiative will aim to support the ARC to grow and increase its penetration into African nations, hoping that by the time a climate agreement comes into force in 2020, more than 30 countries benefit from $2 billion in coverage against drought, flood and cyclones, including $500 million in adaptation financing and that 150 million Africans will be indirectly insured.
That would signal significant growth for the ARC and clearly a much greater need for reinsurance and risk transfer capacity to assist it to reach these goals, with the UN Secretary-General's initiatives help.
Ban Ki-Moon also cited the work of the World Food Program and Oxfam America, supported by reinsurance company Swiss Re, which already helps 31,000 rural households increase their food security through integrated disaster risk reduction, which includes microinsurance that is weather-index linked. Over the next 10 years the goal will be to increase the reach of this programme to an additional 500,000 farmers in 10 countries, a significant increase.
Additionally, Ban Ki-Moon's initiative will look to work with the UNEP Principles for Sustainable Insurance (PSI), the largest collaboration between the UN and the insurance and reinsurance industry, to create a Sustainable Insurance Policy Forum. This Forum will aim to scale up policy progress made by insurance regulators in addressing climate and sustainability related risks.
Also speaking at the event yesterday, President Barack Obama of the United States raised the expectation that there will be an initiative announced for low-lying island states, some of the most vulnerable to loss and damage from climate and weather risks.
President Obama said that at the COP21 climate talks today an announcement would be made regarding a pledge for; "New contributions to risk insurance initiatives that help vulnerable populations rebuild stronger after climate-related disasters."
That was seen as a signal that world leaders recognise the need to respond to the loss and damage issue and concerns of the world's more vulnerable countries. At this time no further official announcement has been made, but something is expected today (December 1st).
The pledge to support the expansion and scaling up of the African Risk Capacity (ARC) by Ban Ki-Moon, as well as to help it expand to include coverage for flood and cyclone risks, at the moment it is just drought, is encouraging.
It's a sign that the adaptation and resilience focus of ARC, while providing risk transfer, risk pooling and accessing the traditional reinsurance and capital markets for reinsurance cover, is a model that we will see grow.
This sustainable approach, to offering insurance to sovereigns to support their building of resilience, enabling greater support for microinsurance layers of protection for the population, while leveraging the risk transfer and reinsurance markets for protection of the pooled risks, is something we're likely to see grow.
The capital markets will have a role to play here in future, as the needs for reinsurance and retrocessional capacity grow and insurance-linked securities (ILS) and catastrophe bonds become an appropriate set of tools to facilitate the transfer of risks to the most efficient capacity.
As the need to narrow the protection gap becomes increasingly apparent, while the world's government s seek to cover more of their economic losses with insurance and risk transfer, the insurance, reinsurance and capital markets have an increasingly important role to play.
It is to be hoped that any new insurance or risk transfer business models and initiatives that emerge from the COP21 talks are rooted in sustainability, and ready to leverage the private market capacity which is currently so readily available and cost-effective.


Clic here to read the story from its source.