Mutual insurers urged to help establish a plan to reduce insurers’, property owners’ carbon footprints

For insurers, climate change represents a remarkable opportunity to serve property owners concerned about the growing frequency and severity of extreme weather events, according to Paul Kovacs, executive director of the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction.
Speaking at the International Cooperative and Mutual Insurance Federation 20009 Biennial Conference in Toronto on Oct. 1, Kovacs set out options for a three-part action plan that cooperative and mutual insurers could follow to build sustainability into a corporate strategy and address climate change.
First, individuals and insurers should establish a multi-year strategy to reduce their environmental footprint, he said.
“Second, against the backdrop of accelerating change in the climate, it is more essential than ever that property owners are able to secure affordable insurance coverage and loss prevention advice from skilled underwriters and claims professionals confident in your capacity to provide coverage against the risk of loss due to severe weather,” Kovacs said in the text of his prepared remarks.
“And third, the International Cooperative and Mutual Insurance Federation and its members are uniquely situated to expand your efforts to champion micro-insurance as a mechanism to bring insurance to millions of people around the world who do not have access to financial protection, by adding a focus on promoting insurance against climate risks,” he said.