Insurance industry named key actor on climate change ahead COP22

A head of Conference of Parties (COP22) of the United Nation’s on Climate Change scheduled to take place in Marrakesh, Morocco from November 7-18, 2016, the insurance industry amongst other private sector players has been fingered as key actor.

The recognition is coming on the heels of the need to provide adequate protection and risk management to humanity and its environs, which has been endangered by issues of climate change.

According to those in the know, climate change has had major impacts on agriculture, water and energy resources, so requires that farms, dams and infrastructure projects are protected and preserved through adequate risk management.

Said Mouline, head of Public/Private Partnerships of the Steering Committee of COP22, in Morocco. He said private sector participation is critical in realising the fight for reduction of carbon emission.

“There will be need for insurance so that in the event of disaster, say drought, there will be compensation.” Here, only very few people are insured and this exposes more people to risks of the environment.”

He noted that insurance like other private sector players should key into project development and execution. There are opportunities in energy; there are opportunities in water resource management; agriculture and insurance is relevant in all of these.

Aziz Mekouar, ambassador for Multilateral Negotiations said they would continue to engage all the actors in climate change particularly the private sector.

The COP is the supreme decision-making body of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), opened for signature in 1992 during the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro and later entered into force in 1994. Through this instrument, the United Nations has equipped itself with a framework for action to fight global warming.

The COP was created and put in place in order to structure the efforts of the Parties to the convention, to address climate change. The COP meets annually to review and assess the implementation of the UNFCCC and any other legal instruments the body adopts with the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and addressing climate change. These annual UN climate change conferences are commonly referred to as COP. Since 1994 there have been twenty-one COPs, with the most recent one organized in Paris this past December.