Failure to achieve a binding agreement at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change held in Copenhagen, Denmark last December has left insurers with no clear direction to address the growing risk from global warming, according to industry observers.

“It is fair to say that Copenhagen did not deliver the full agreement the world needs to address the collective climate change challenge, and that just makes the task at hand more urgent,” said Yvo de Boer, executive secretary for the UNFCCC, during a news conference in January. “It means that the window of opportunity to come to grips with this issue is closing faster than it was before.”

Organizers hoped the conference would build on the 1997 Kyoto Protocol to produce a legally binding international agreement to cut carbon dioxide emissions that an overwhelming consensus of scientists agree is the major factor for global warming.