NU Online News Service, Nov. 28, 3:30 p.m. EST

Insurers can play a vital role in the development of renewable energy by producing risk-transfer programs and making corporate investments themselves, says insurer Munich Re.

As world representatives meet this week in Durban, South Africa, the Munich, Germany-based company released a statement urging insurers and nations to work at finding ways to limit the negative impact of global warming on the environment.

Munich Re says it is making an effort to “boost the campaign being waged on global warming despite the stalled U.N. climate negotiations.”

As part of that effort, the company is urging nations that have adopted climate goals to take the lead and “concentrate all their efforts on promoting renewable energy.”

Torsten Jeworrek, chief executive officer of reinsurance operations at Munich Re, says, “Switching from fossil fuels to renewable energy is the prime task this century faces and [the initiative] offers substantial financial opportunities.”

He adds that insurers “can help facilitate the introduction of this technology” by making “specific investments and giving investors greater security.”

Munich Re notes that it has brought a number of “innovative solutions to market,” including a performance guarantee that covers photovoltaic modules and geothermal drilling projects.

The company says it will invest €2.5 billion ($3.33 billion) directly into renewable-energy projects over the next couple of years.

Munich Re says there is strong evidence that global warming is having a significant impact on weather conditions and the losses insurers suffer. The company's 40 years worth of data documenting natural disasters now contains over 30,000 events.

The data shows the “number of registered-loss occurrences from extreme weather throughout the world has almost tripled since 1980.”

Flood-loss events have risen by a factor of more than three and the number of windstorm catastrophes has more than doubled, says the company.

Loss increase can be explained in a socio-economic context, Munich Re says, with increases in population, property values and settlement patterns. But the number of weather-related catastrophes can not be explained “without climate change.”

This is especially true as the “number of earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other geophysical events has only increased slightly.”

Despite the efforts by some nations to contain global warming, Munich Re says scientists believe rising carbon emissions have reached a point where the 2-degree Celsius target to contain global warming is virtually no longer attainable.

“Based on the latest scientific findings, little doubt remains about anthropogenic climate change and its impacts,” says Munich Re.

Special Reports /

Munich Re: Insurers Can Facilitate Renewable Energy Development

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