Insurance industry calls for gas emission reductions at Kyoto conference

Members of the insurance industry are among a group of Canadian business representatives that is calling on the federal government to embrace the new plan to reduce greenhouse gas emission beyond the current Kyoto deadline of 2008-12.Among the members of the Executive Forum on Climate Change are: Alban D’Amours, ceo, Desjardins Group; George Cooke, ceo, Dominion of Canada General Insurance Co.; David Wilmot, chair, The Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction (ICLR); and Gregg Hanson, ceo, Wawanesa Mutual Insurance Co.Currently, at the United Nations’ conference on climate change being held in Montral, the federal Environment Minister Stphane Dion is in deliberations with delegates from approximately 190 countries regarding a proposed final deal for how emissions can be further cut. Insurance industry officials present at the conference are warning delegates that there is little time to reduce emissions and that already this year worldwide losses from weather-related disasters hit US$200 billion, which is three times higher than ever before.Weather-related catastrophes have increased, which industry representatives say proves that losses are related to climate change spurred by high greenhouse gas emissions.