Munich Re says attempts to halt average global temperature increases to 2°C appear “doomed to failure” and has called for a concentration on renewable energy technologies by committed countries.

The call comes as more than 190 countries gathered in Durban, South Africa for a climate change conference.

A European drive to get a legally binding agreement to cut carbon emissions by 2015 signed appears to be stymied by China and the US.

Munich Re CEO of Reinsurance Operations Torsten Jeworrek says switching from fossil fuels to renewable energy “is the prime task this century faces and offers substantial financial opportunities”.

He says Munich Re has “extremely slim” hopes for successful outcomes from the Durban summit.

However, the company believes the insurance industry can help facilitate the introduction of new renewable energy technologies by assuming specific investment risks and giving investors greater security.

Munich Re, which is aiming to invest €2.5 billion ($3.2 billion) in renewable energy technology, has already provided performance guarantee covers for photovoltaic modules development and exploration risk cover for geothermal drilling projects.

The company’s analysis of climate change, using its database of 30,000 natural catastrophes, indicates that the number of extreme weather-related events has almost tripled since 1980.

The number of flood loss events has more than tripled and the number of windstorm natural catastrophes has more than doubled, it says.

While much of the increasing loss can be attributed to increased population density, the strong rise in weather-related catastrophes “can probably not be fully explained without climate change, especially as the number of earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other geophysical events has only increased slightly,” the report says.

Peter Hoeppe, Head of Geo Risks Research at Munich Re, said: “It’s as if the weather machine has shifted up a gear.

“We believe that we can already see this in retrospect in our last 30 years’ data for some regions, although the most severe impacts of global warming are still to come.”