bl e MAKING A DIFFERENCE CORPORATE
RAINING ON Climate Change's P arade By Thabiso Rulashe
From the Caribbean to the Far East, the increasing intensity of extreme weather events has once again thrust climate change to the forefront of public discussion. Recently, Hurricane Ida completely wrecked Louisiana's electricity grid in the US, while both Geece and Siberia have struggled to contain wildfires that have had a crippling effect on their local infrastructure. These events show that the effects of climate change are not just going to be felt in some far distant future by unborn generations. They are being felt now, by the people and businesses of today. As we observed Africa Climate Week (26-29 September), it has never been more important to take stock and examine what we can do to fight it. THE COST OF CLIMATE CHANGE According to a recent report by Forbes.com, the global cost of climate change could reach as much as $1.3 trillion by the year 2026. That is around R20 trillion in today's value. To put it another way, climate change could gouge more than 10 times 'South Africas national budget, out of economies across the globe. That is just in the short term. In the long term it is estimated that the global economy could be 37% smaller than it would have been if climate change had not existed. WHAT WE CAN DO We believe it's imperative to focus on publicprivate partnerships going forward. All stakeholders must be committed if we stand any chance of really moving the needle. Here are some examples of ways this is already working: Back in March last year, Santam co-hosted the United Nations Environment Programme Principles of Sustainable Insurance (UNEP PSI) 3rd Annual African Market Event at Victoria
110
ecobalancelifestyle.com
Falls. The aim of the event was to bring together leaders within the African risk management and insurance ecosystem to share experiences and ideas that can grow a resilient, sustainable, responsible, and profitable African insurance sector. Santam Group, together with CENFRI, FSDAfrica, UKAid and InsuResilience, also conducted a climate risk brainstorming work shop for underwriters, climate and risk data experts, development partners and city governments to focus on how to address flood risk in urban cities. Santam Group also co-hosted the Climate Change Community of Practice (COP) with C40 cities representatives and other climate change practitioners to share climate changerelated information and learn about how South African major cities are adapting to climate change. Through our FutureFit strategy, corporate citizens can embed forward thinking approaches into how we can narrow the risk protection gap and grow the business sustainably in the future. It's critical we're all working towards shared goals. To help at a more grass roots level, Santam Group has also deployed our resident
