Canadian business is vulnerable to climate change and the increasing frequency and intensity of natural catastrophes, Lloyd's Chairman Peter Levene warned in a speech to the Vancouver Board of Trade today in Vancouver.
Lord Levene, sounding an alarm he has voiced previously, called on governments, businesses and insurers to "do more to understand and adapt to the implications of global warming."
Based on current models, he said, Canada may have to deal with flooding of low-lying lands on its seacoast, a shrinking Artic ice cap, reductions in Great Lakes water levels, permafrost thawing and reduced river flow on the prairies.
"As a leading commercial property insurer in Canada, Lloyd's has helped individual Canadians and Canadian businesses cope with major natural losses," Lord Levene said. "We need to estimate the full costs of climate change and choose adaptation strategies now, before it's too late."
He noted Insurance Board of Canada data indicate that major multipayment occurrences for property damage due to extreme weather-related events totaled a record $860 million from January 1999 to July 2004.
Lord Levene also warned that threats of terrorism and an increasingly litigious culture weighed on Canadian business.
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