London: December 29 2008: Financial damage and loss of life caused by natural disasters made 2008 one of the most devastating years on record and showed the impact of climate change, one of the world’s biggest reinsurers said.
Munich Re said weather-related catastrophes helped to push overall losses to $200bn compared with $82bn in 2007. Insured losses of $45bn were 50 per cent more than in the previous year.This made 2008 the third most expensive year to the industry for catastrophe damage, continuing a long-term trend, the group said.
“Climate change has already started and is very probably contributing to increasingly frequent weather extremes and ensuing natural catastrophes,” said Torsten Jeworrek, a member of Munich Re’s executive board.
Insurance companies are increasingly concerned by the impact of climate change on risk modelling and hence on financial performance. Munich Re said the next UN climate summit, scheduled for late next year in Copenhagen,needed to “quite clearly fix the route” to halve output of greenhouse gases by 2050. More >>>