Climate Risk Management

So if you're a hard-nosed businessman, do you say climate change is bunk?

The calculations go along two lines, depending on the industry: Corporations are either mitigating risk associated with climate changes or seeking out business opportunities in fields such as clean energy.

Faced with a higher frequency of storms, and more severe ones, insurance companies are re-examining their exposure to risk and, in some cases, cutting off policies.

But there's an upside, too: Investors are flocking to so-called clean, or green, technologies that cut down on greenhouse gas emissions, notably carbon dioxide.

Smart money eyes climate change By Martin LaMonica, CNET News.com, Published on ZDNet News: July 10, 2006, 4:00 AM PT

The article goes on to say companies are doing this out of financial self-interest:

There continue to be political debates on how to address climate change and global warming. But the businesses now adjusting for climate change are motivated entirely by financial reasons, said Wellington, who advised Citigroup on a June report entitled "Investing in Solutions to Climate Change."

Who's the hardest nosed of all, with the biggest downside to face?

Reinsurance giant Swiss Re has been calculating the effect of climate change on its business for more than 10 years. The company employs three climatologists, including a paleontologist to study ice cores, which shed light on historical weather patterns.

As a company that provides insurance to the insurance industry, Swiss Re is the "canary in the mine shaft with regards to climate change" because it does long-term risk analysis, said Chris Walker, managing director and head of sustainable business development at Swiss Re.

"We do believe the climate is truly changing and that it could potentially disrupt how we do business, which is based on a predictive model," said Walker.

If, for example, so-called 100-year hurricanes occur every 25 years because of global warming, firms like Swiss Re will have a harder time absorbing and pricing risks, he said.

Or four times as many forest fires in the U.S. west.

So what's the smart investment there? Firefighting equipment? Population migration? Dispersed outdoor smoke detectors feeding back through the Internet? Other?

Probably pretending it's not happening is not the best way to make money or manage risk while it's happening.

-jsq