What’s New: In Brief (October 12, 2007)

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was awarded the Nobel Peace Price on Oct. 12. IPCC panel members include Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction (ICLR) executive director Paul Kovacs and ICLR policy director Dr. Gordon McBean. The IPCC will share the prize in two equal parts with Al Gore for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change, says an ICLR statement, citing the Norwegian Nobel Committee. According to Kovacs, the award is further recognition of the international leadership demonstrated by ICLR researchers and the Canadian property and casualty insurance industry, and acknowledgement of the importance of climate change for our society.

Benfield Group Limited has entered into an agreement to acquire Beaufort International Insurance Inc. (BIII) and Beaufort Insurance Services Inc. (BISI) from Beaufort Group. Based in Calgary, BIII and BISI specialize in providing direct and wholesale insurance broking services to the oil and gas exploration and oil sands industries in Western Canada, the release notes.