Date:            22nd October 2009
Time:            6.30 p.m. - 9.00 p.m. (presentation starts at 7.00 p.m.)
Venue:         The London Capital Club - Oriental Room – 
                   15 Abchurch Lane, London EC4N 7BW
Tube:            Bank/Monument
Cost:            £25 for members; £30 for non-members and guests.

Dr David N Bresch, Director - Head Sustainability & Emerging Risk Management of Swiss Re - will outline how a reinsurer anticipates the consequences of societal, political, environmental or technological developments with particular reference to climate change. He will talk about Swiss Re's commitment and activities to achieve ethical, socially and environmentally responsible business practices and to manage the corresponding risks & opportunities. Improving the resilience of our societies in the face of climate change will increase in importance. Swiss Re  believes that the next steps in climate adaptation are to create an economic framework for governments to use in adaptation strategies on a country and regional level to understand the underlying climate risks and the costs of adaptation measures. The adaptation measures include, for example, building defences, improved spatial planning, building regulations and risk transfer and insurance against some of the more extreme weather events. The Economics of Climate Adaptation options (ECA, see www.swissre.com/climatechange) study addresses these questions in different regions to demonstrate the beneficial effect of pre-emptive risk management – namely prevention, preparedness and transfer of total climate risk. We further emphasize the importance of public-private partnership to set up effective risk transfer schemes such as the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF) and similar index based weather insurance solutions in developing countries as part of our Climate Adaptation Development Program (CADP).

David joined Swiss Re in 2000 and has been heading up the Atmospheric Perils Group, comprising of specialists based in Zurich, Armonk (near New York), London, Munich and Hong Kong, As Swiss Re's chief natural catastrophe modeller, he has been responsible for risk analysis and risk management of atmospheric perils, in particular tropical cyclones and European winter storms, both of which number among the most important major claims scenarios in the insurance industry. He is also serving as Swiss Re's senior climate advisor to the board. After receiving a Masters in physics from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich (ETHZ), David received his PhD at the Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science at the ETHZ in 1998 and spent a year at MIT as research associate in "science and policy of climate change".

Canapés and drinks will be served. Guests are welcome.

Please book on line at www.hbsa.org.uk

Alternatively contact Janet Talbut on admin@hbsa.org.uk / Tel: 01799 540089