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Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL)

1 July 2015 – As part of their support of the UN COP21 Climate Change Conference in December, AXA hosted an ‘AXA Futures’ plenary seminar showcasing some of the latest research work and thinking from leading academics researching extreme weather and climate change.

The panel experts discussed the various strands of research and evidence into how climate change is leading to a variety of environmental impacts, in particular an increase in the occurrence and severity of extreme weather events. These will have an impact on risk exposure, and thus the insurability of communities. There is a clear need for greater resilience as a general trend, but with greater urgency considering the evidence that it will quickly become even more important as climate change takes effect. This highlights the need for the insurance industry to start exploring real, concrete way that it can start to manage societal exposure to climate risk, using the extensive data at its disposal, and, in so doing, secure its long term sustainability.

The panel

  • Chair: David Williams, Managing Director Underwriting, AXA Insurance
  • Professor Martin Siegert, Co-Director, Grantham Institute for Climate Change & Environment, Imperial College, London
  • Professor Colin Prentice, Chair in Biosphere and Climate Impacts, Imperial College, London
  • Richard Aylard, External Affairs and Sustainability Director, Thames Water
  • Professor Paul Bates, Professor of Hydrology and Head of School in Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol
  • Professor Hannah Cloke, Professor of Hydrology and Director of Water@Reading, University of Reading

Read the seminar summary.

 

The key views and conclusions of the AXA Futures debate