Download Avenues of Cooperation between Insurance Bureau of Canada

Adapting to Climate Change:
Canada’s Infrastructure Challenge
James Geuzebroek
Manager, Media Relations
Insurance Bureau of Canada
Alberta Emergency Management Agency 2008 Summit
October 29, 2008 -- Leduc
Who is IBC?

Trade association representing Canada’s
private home, car and business insurance
companies
Over 200 Companies
$20 billion in claims paid
108,000 employees
$36 billion in premiums
Role of Insurance



Protects assets against sudden and
unforeseen events
Spreads the financial risk
Makes it possible to:



Drive to work
Build or buy a home
Start-up a new business
Our Greatest Challenge:
Climate Change

More severe weather occurring more
frequently

Affects insurance availability and
affordability
Natural Disasters are Costly
Models for Predicting Weather Outdated

Saint John River in New Brunswick:


Three 100-year events in past 35 years
Greater Toronto Area:

Three 100-year events and five 50-year events
in past 10 years
Examples of Canadian
Weather-related Events
Insured Losses:
Quebec Ice Storm (1998) $1.6 billion
Toronto Rainstorm (2005) $500 million
Saguenay Floods (1996)
$207 million
Peterborough Floods (2004) $90 million
Infrastructure Failure to Blame

Infrastructure failure responsible for most of
the damage:




Ice Storm (electric grid)
GTA Rainstorm (sewer/surface water systems)
Saguenay Floods (dams)
Peterborough Floods (sewer/surface water
systems)
Aging Infrastructure
Contributes to Vulnerability
The Challenge:
Not Every Natural Event Needs to Result in
Disaster

We must take action now to:


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Reinforce/improve infrastructure, in particular
our sewer and surface water infrastructure
Improve building codes; employ climatic
design values
Revise land use
Improve disaster management
How to Fund Adaptation



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Nurture open dialogue
Understand the complexities and realities
Beware of the “do nothing” approach
Privatization/Public-Private Partnership
How do we engage consumers?

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Insurance as incentives
Educate individual homeowners
Raise awareness
The Example of the Rain Barrel



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Reduces water usage and provides water for
garden
Helps manage surface water run-off
Keeps surface water out of the basement
Limits and delays amount of surface water in
municipal sewers during rainstorms
1 RAIN BARREL
45 GALLONS
14
0001 RAIN BARREL
S
000
45 GALLONS
15
16
2.5 MILLION GALLONS
55000 RAIN BARRELS
17
18
In Conclusion – sort of

“Nothing in the world is more flexible and
yielding than water. Yet when it attacks the
firm and the strong, none can withstand it,
because they have no way to change it. So
the flexible overcome the adamant, the
yielding overcome the forceful.” Lau Tzu
Emergency Response
C.A.M.P