The Geneva Association conference will bring together top decision-makers of the insurance industry and senior government officials to discuss infrastructure investments that support both economic and environmental goals
Toronto, ON (Sept. 4, 2018) – Two of Canada’s leading insurance providers, Intact Financial Corporation and Sun Life Financial, will co-host a global forum on climate-resilient critical infrastructure in Toronto on September 18, 2018. This high-level event, “Pathways to Climate-Resilient Decarbonized Critical Infrastructure in the 21st Century,” is organized by The Geneva Association, the leading international think tank of the insurance industry.
Notable participants include Patricia Espinosa, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change; Joaquim Levy, Managing Director and CFO of the World Bank Group; Masamichi Kono, Deputy Secretary General of OECD; Mami Mizutori, Assistant Secretary-General and Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction; Tiff Macklem, Chair of Canada’s Expert Panel on Sustainable Finance and Dean of the Rotman School of Management; and Pierre Lavallée, President and CEO of the Canada Infrastructure Bank.
“It is important that we work together towards a common goal – that all levels of government implement standards and building codes to encourage resilience and continue to boost infrastructure spending. Economic resilience requires climate resilience – insurable losses in Canada have more than doubled every five to 10 years since the 1980s. We need to build our communities right the first time to ensure a prosperous future for everyone,” said Charles Brindamour, Chief Executive Officer of Intact Financial Corporation.
“Public-Private partnerships are vital to investment in critical infrastructure such as energy, transportation and water,” said Dean Connor, President & CEO of Sun Life Financial. “The required infrastructure investment is well beyond the capacity of the public sector alone. Private sector players like Sun Life are well positioned to mobilize private capital to create infrastructure that supports economic growth, job creation and quality of life, while responding to climate change.”
“A focus of The Geneva Association’s research is to facilitate the assessment of climate risk on critical infrastructure and encourage its due consideration in the corresponding investment decisions,” said Anna Maria D’Hulster, Secretary General of The Geneva Association. “Solving the global infrastructure challenge requires coordinated multi-stakeholder action to contribute to limiting climate change to a 2°C scenario.”
Participants at the forum will engage in discussions on critical infrastructure, prioritizing climate change mitigation and adaptation, challenges and opportunities for scaling up private investments in climate-resilience, and the insurance industry’s role as underwriters, risk managers and investors.
Other invited guests include government officials and politicians, chief investment officers and chief risk officers from the global re/insurance and financial sectors, as well as senior officials of international development banks and the United Nations.
About the Geneva Association
The Geneva Association is the leading international insurance think tank for strategically important insurance and risk management issues. The Geneva Association identifies fundamental trends and strategic issues where insurance plays a substantial role or which influence the insurance sector. Through the development of research programmes, regular publications and the organisation of international meetings, The Geneva Association serves as a catalyst for progress in the understanding of risk and insurance matters and acts as an information creator and disseminator. It is the leading voice of the largest insurance groups worldwide in the dialogue with international institutions. In parallel, it advances— in economic and cultural terms—the development and application of risk management and the understanding of uncertainty in the modern economy.
The Geneva Association membership comprises a statutory maximum of 90 chief executive officers (CEOs) from the world’s top insurance and reinsurance companies. It organises international expert networks and manages discussion platforms for senior insurance executives and specialists as well as policymakers, regulators and multilateral organisations.
Established in 1973, The Geneva Association, officially the ‘International Association for the Study of Insurance Economics’, is based in Zurich, Switzerland and is a non-profit organisation funded by its Members.
About Sun Life Financial
Sun Life Financial is a leading international financial services organization providing insurance, wealth and asset management solutions to individual and corporate Clients. Sun Life Financial has operations in a number of markets worldwide, including Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Japan, Indonesia, India, China, Australia, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia and Bermuda. As of June 30, 2018, Sun Life Financial had total assets under management of $986 billion. For more information please visit www.sunlife.com.
Sun Life Financial Inc. trades on the Toronto (TSX), New York (NYSE) and Philippine (PSE) stock exchanges under the ticker symbol SLF.
About Intact Financial Corporation
Intact Financial Corporation (TSX: IFC) is the largest provider of property and casualty (P&C) insurance in Canada and a leading provider of specialty insurance in North America, with close to $10 billion in total annual premiums. The Company has over 13,000 full- and part-time employees who serve more than five million personal, business, public sector and institutional clients through offices in Canada and the U.S. In Canada, Intact distributes insurance under the Intact Insurance brand through a wide network of brokers, including its wholly-owned subsidiary BrokerLink, and directly to consumers through belairdirect. In the U.S., OneBeacon Insurance Group, a wholly-owned subsidiary, provides specialty insurance products through independent agencies, brokers, wholesalers and managing general agencies.
SOURCE: Intact Financial Corporation
