Sendai, Japan, 14 March 2015 – Top insurers from around the world have called on governments, Saturday, to step up global efforts to build resilience against natural disasters, highlighting that average economic losses from disasters in the last decade amounted to around US $190 billion annually, while average insured losses were at about US $60 billion.
The ‘United for Disaster Resilience Statement‘ was released at the opening of the 3rd UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction by top insurance companies, members of the UNEP FI Principles for Sustainable Insurance (PSI)—the largest collaborative initiative between the UN and the insurance industry. PSI is backed by insurers representing about 15 per cent of the world’s premium volume and US $9 trillion in assets under their management.
The Statement urges governments to adopt the UN Post-2015 Framework on Disaster Risk Reduction, emphasizing that the insurance industry is well placed to understand the economic and social impact of disasters given that its core business is to understand, manage and carry risk.
Read the full press release.
Read extensive media coverage of the launch of UNEP FI’s PSI initiatives at the 3rd UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction.