In the wake of a new Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) summary report on extreme weather and climate change, business leaders discussed the growing impacts of extreme weather on their companies and customers, and actions that are needed to respond if climate patterns continue, during a press call hosted by Ceres to shortly after the report was published last week.
During the launch, the Summary for Policymakers of the Special Report on Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation was described by Rajendra Pachauri, Chair of the IPCC, as providing “insights into how disaster risk management and adaptation may assist vulnerable communities to better cope with a changing climate in a world of inequalities”. He went on to say it also “underlines the complexity and the diversity of factors that are shaping human vulnerability to extremes--why for some communities and countries these can become disasters whereas for others they can be less severe”.
Qin Dahe, Co-chair of IPCC Working Group I, which together with Working Group II was responsible for the development and preparation of the report, said: “There is high confidence that both maximum and minimum daily temperatures have increased on a global scale due to the increase of greenhouse gases.”
“Changes in other extremes, such as more intense and longer droughts are observed in some regions, but the assessment assigns medium confidence due to a lack of direct observations and a lack of agreement in the available scientific studies. Confidence in any long-term trend in tropical cyclone intensity, frequency or duration is assessed to be low,” he added.
Chris Field, the other Co-chair of Working Group II, hopes the summary report can form “a scientific foundation for sound decisions on infrastructure, urban development, public health, and insurance, as well as for planning—from community organizations to international disaster risk management”.
Commenting on the findings of the report, shortly after its publication, Ceres President, Mindy Lubber, said: "The IPCC report underscores the ripples climate change is already having on the global economy and the importance of innovative business solutions and aggressive government policies to manage this escalating threat". Several leading companies also issued statements on the summary report, raising concerns about how insurance costs will escalate and pointing out what needs to be done to avert the externalities associated with continued use of fossil fuels, which ultimately speeds up climate change.
"The IPCC report is further confirmation for investors not just of the reality of climate change but of the urgent need to hedge against the growing risk of devastating climate events in many parts of the world," said Kevin Parker, Global Head of Deutsche Asset Management. "This is becoming easier to do thanks to the increasing availability of more sophisticated analytical tools and strategies to enable investors to take action. The key now is to raise investor awareness of the problem, which this report will certainly help to do."
“The real estate industry has long been focused on reducing the impact of buildings on the environment through energy use and resulting carbon emissions," said Dan Probst, Chairman of Energy and Sustainable Services at Jones Lang LaSalle, which manages properties across the US and the world. "Now we're seeing the need to focus on the environment's impact on buildings due to the physical ripples of climate change. More than ever before, weather events and other climate-related factors are beginning to impact real estate location and design decisions."
"The human and economic costs of severe weather are escalating and the IPCC report is another important reminder of the need to reverse this trend," said Mark Way, from insurance giant Swiss Re's Head Sustainability Americas Hub.
The Special Report on Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters was commissioned during the 30th Session of the IPCC held 21-23 April 2009 in Antalya (Turkey), where it was agreed that Working Groups I and II would jointly prepare the report. The Summary for Policymakers of the SREX was approved by the First Joint Session of IPCC Working Groups I and II in Kampala (Uganda) between 14 and 17 November 2011 and was launched on 18 November. http://ipcc-wg2.gov/SREX
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