tailieunhanh - Climate Change and Insurance: An Agenda for Action in the United States

For most of the 1800s, hospitals had been a place where the chronically ill and indigent received charitable care because they had no family capable of shouldering the burden. Those who could afford it received care at home. But as the importance of asepsis began to be appreciated, surgical and acute care patients were more likely to be treated in hospitals designed to facilitate antiseptic conditions. Hospitals began charging for the use of their facilities. During the transition, medical bills began absorbing significant amounts of family income. Hospital costs rose from of total family medical bills in 1918, to 13% in 1929. 6 According to the. | Climate Change and Insurance An Agenda for Action in the United States A publication of Allianz Group and WWF October 2006 FOREWORD Climate change poses significant risks throughout the United States particularly to coastal flood-prone and fire-prone areas . Allianz and World Wildlife Fund WWF are working together to understand and better manage the true risks of global warming. Without examining how global warming could intensify risk it is impractical for Allianz WWF and our peers to carry out long term planning to protect assets. The insurance industry has a two-fold responsibility. On the one hand it needs to prepare itself for the negative effects that climate change may have on its business and on its customers. On the other hand it can significantly help mitigate the economic risks and enter the low-carbon economy by providing appropriate products and services. Allianz Group and WWF havejoined forces to produce a report that will advance the debate in the insurance industry and propose solutions. The report identifies risks for the sector emerging physical impacts that will likely be amplified with climate change and develops actions that demonstrate how insurance providers such as Allianz Group can respond to these risks in a meaningful and responsible manner. Implementing these actions will mean big steps forward developing sound practices business for a living planet. WWF and Allianz Group will work together to implement the actions of this report and to take responsible steps to help solve this global problem. Allianz and WWF strongly believe that companies that are ready to seize these new opportunities will ultimately be able to reap benefits for society and for their shareholders. This cooperation in the United States between Allianz and WWF is a second milestone since the 2005 launch of Climate Change the Financial Sector An Agenda for Action in London. In markets around the world WWF and Allianz are raising awareness about climate change in the .