XL Catlin CEO Mike McGavick told the Paris climate change conference the (re)insurance industry will strive to support resilience and disaster risk reduction.

Mr McGavick, also Chairman of The Geneva Association, told world leaders of the industry’s enthusiasm for a proposed “anticipate, absorb and reshape” – or A2R – framework.

“As we work urgently to prepare the world’s people for the impacts of climate change, it is obvious much of the resilience work ahead is right in our industry’s wheelhouse,” he said.

“Today, far too few of the world’s people benefit from the resilience offered by risk sharing and transfer schemes.

“I offer my personal commitment to work with you to ensure the best of what our industry can offer is brought forward.”

Mr McGavick also announced the insurance industry will join policymakers in an initiative to reduce the impact of climate change in emerging markets.

Called the Insurance Development Forum, it will be co-chaired by XL Catlin Executive Deputy Chairman Stephen Catlin.

Meanwhile, Munich Re Head of Geo Risks Research/Corporate Climate Centre Peter Hoeppe warns restricting global warming to two degrees is “virtually impossible to achieve”.

Even with emissions falling, gases such as carbon dioxide are increasing in the atmosphere because some take up to 100 years to dissipate.

“We should prepare now for unavoidable consequences of global warming in the medium and long term,” he said.

“Sea levels will continue to rise, and in the long term we should expect to suffer more and stronger extreme weather events, such as heavy rainfall events with flooding or severe thunderstorms.”

Mitigation and adaptation need to be pushed up the political agenda, Professor Hoeppe says.

“The more our planet warms up, the more frequent and intense will be the weather catastrophes we experience. Every step that helps to reduce this warming is therefore better than none at all.”