MAPFRE chairman calls for action on climate change

Antonio Huertas, chairman and CEO of Spanish insurer MAPFRE, has called for insurers, governments and wider society to work together to fight climate change.

Opening the InsuResilience Global Partnership Forum with a keynote address as part of the United Nations (UN) COP25 Climate Change event in Madrid, he said: "Climate change is real, and it is having an increasing impact on people's lives. The challenge we face is so great that a combined approach is needed to address it: national and regional governments, international organisations, the private sector, academia and civil society.

"This is something that must be addressed; it is crucial for Latin American governments to better recognise the role and benefits of insurance as an efficient tool to protect and compensate for this type of catastrophic risk.”

Currently, less than 20 percent of catastrophic damage in Latin America is covered by insurance. In the case of floods, coverage levels are even lower at less than 10 percent. This means that there is a large protection gap in Latin America, which continues to grow in some countries. It was against this backdrop that Antonio Huertas called for action.

“Latin America could benefit more from insurance to better protect its societies from climate change,” he said. “Climate risk coverage helps people affected by extreme climate events to reduce their vulnerability and better manage their resources.”

MAPFRE has presented a series of initiatives over the two-week COP25 event to highlight the issues and its commitment to the protection of the environment.

InsuResilience Global Partnership is a public-private initiative created in 2017 together with the support of the G-20, and is aimed at addressing the development of tools to help
provide climate risk coverage for vulnerable people in developing countries.