In 2005 insurers faced claims for seven of the ten most expensive hurricanes in history.
In response, insurers like AIG, one of the world’s largest, announced that they would
give customers who reduce their carbon emissions a break on their rates.5
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Administrator D. James
Baker says, “Our climate is warming at a faster rate than ever before recorded. Ignoring
climate change and the most recent warming patterns could be costly to the nation.
Small changes in global temperatures can lead to more extreme weather events
including, droughts, floods and hurricanes.”6
Hurricane Katrina, which in 2005
destroyed much of New Orleans, may cost insurers as much as $60 billion.7
A stable climate is of inestimable value to companies, to residents
of cities and ultimately to all life on earth. But we are losing this
foundation for a successful economy.
In March 2006, the UN’s weather agency, the World
Meteorological Organisation (WMO) warned that greenhouse
gases (GHGs) including carbon dioxide—the cause of global
warming and climate change—had reached their highest levels in
the atmosphere ever in human history. Such emissions, WMO
stated, must be slowed and reduced if the earth is to avoid climatic
havoc with devastating heat waves, droughts, floods and rising
sea-levels sinking low-lying island states and hitting seaboard cities.8