These attitudes are "due to the prolonged wrangling over the Kyoto Protocol," the report states, compounded by "the lack of solid information on emissions and delays in finalizing the regulations of the new greenhouse gas markets."
The protocol, agreed under to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, limits the emission of six greenhouse gases linked to global warming. Thirty-nine industrialized nations were to have been governed by the original agreement signed in Kyoto, Japan in December 1997, but the Bush administration said in 2001 that the United States would
The protocol, agreed under to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, limits the emission of six greenhouse gases linked to global warming. Thirty-nine industrialized nations were to have been governed by the original agreement signed in Kyoto, Japan in December 1997, but the Bush administration said in 2001 that the United States would
not ratify the protocol, and Australia followed suit this summer. It still has not entered into force.
A small group of financial companies is addressing the issue, but many of them are reinsurers whose businesses are already feeling the economic impact of rising, weather related, insurance claims.
"This report is a wake up call for the global financial community. It highlights the real risks and economic perils they are facing as a result of human influenced climate change," said UNEP Executive Director Klaus Toepfer.
A small group of financial companies is addressing the issue, but many of them are reinsurers whose businesses are already feeling the economic impact of rising, weather related, insurance claims.
"This report is a wake up call for the global financial community. It highlights the real risks and economic perils they are facing as a result of human influenced climate change," said UNEP Executive Director Klaus Toepfer.
The property market, where loans for houses and buildings are made over relatively long periods of time, could be particularly vulnerable as a result of extreme weather events, the report warns. "Homeowners and companies with property holdings may find that their insurance cover is cancelled at short notice, leaving them highly exposed."
Government action to arrest the problem will "inevitably" mean a reduction in emissions of the main sources of greenhouse gases linked with global warming, predicts the report. This will require cutbacks and the more efficient use of fossil fuels such as coal and oil.
Government action to arrest the problem will "inevitably" mean a reduction in emissions of the main sources of greenhouse gases linked with global warming, predicts the report. This will require cutbacks and the more efficient use of fossil fuels such as coal and oil.