Climate adaptation step one: Insurers to shed silos and linearity!
Illuminem.com
July 6, 2023
My column for illuminem: Soon after the recent #Parima2023 annual event – where I spoke on Geopolitics – I made an attempt to write on the theme. However, with all the messaging flowing in my direction, #Polycrisis besieged me. Here are some of them. Needless to mention, the siloed and linear ways of insurers not only holds them back from addressing the ever-evolving Polycrisis, but also influences the ‘contiguous’ #riskmanangement terrain.
“It may sound frightening, but the scientific evidence is that if we have not taken dramatic action within the next decade, we could face irreversible damage to the natural world and the collapse of our societies,” warns Sir David Attenborough.
“Compound drought and heatwaves (#CDHWs) severely threaten socioecological systems, leading to greater impacts, e.g., wildfires, crop failure, and heat-related mortalities, than individual extremes”: Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences (#PNAS).
“The trillions being invested globally are vital to drive the profound changes the world urgently needs – cutting emissions, ending toxic activities that harm nature, and improving health and living standards. But responsible investment’s potential to power these changes is being held back by low ambition and a dangerously narrow focus on profit maximization”. Laments ShareAction.
The IFOA in partnership with the University of Exeter demonstrates “how a deeper understanding of climate change, including tipping points can improve financial services climate – scenario modelling… Existing models seriously understate the level of risk”.
Howard Dryden: Fails to understand “when there are solutions, and one of the main ones is to stop polluting the environment and killing nature with toxic chemicals, plastic, and partially combusted carbon. Fix these three issues: and stop the destructive exploiting of ecosystems; and we stop climate change, and regenerate nature on the planet”.
Simon Tisdall of the Guardian: “What manner of new global order will ultimately emerge? It’s plain the old great-power games are unsustainable when the planet’s on fire, the ice is melting – and existing rules are ignored. To survive, let alone prosper, in the 21st century, the world needs to replace nationalistic, zero-sum rivalries and power blocs with a more equitable, genuinely multipolar dispensation”.
Are insurers listening? They need to adapt and align to these expectations with due urgency.
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