Morning Breifing: UN’s Ban Ki-moon praises insurance industry on climate change

UN’s Ban Ki-moon praises insurance industry on climate change… Global organizations shun robust cyber coverage… Workers say firms lack emergency plans…

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UN’s Ban Ki-moon praises insurance industry on climate change
The secretary-general of the United Nations has praised the insurance industry for its important role in making the world a more sustainable place. Ban Ki-moon met with insurance leaders and other stakeholders at a meeting Thursday and told them "The world needs your leadership to meet the climate challenge.”

He noted that the insurance industry is both “profoundly affected” by climate change but also plays a key role in helping to mitigate the devastating effects of climate change. He said this would benefit the insurance industry and society as a whole.

Among the areas that the secretary-general sees as important for the insurance industry is a focus on greener portfolios including investing in clean energy. He said that it was vital that the sector and the UN continue to work together to protect the world’s most vulnerable.
 
Global organizations shun robust cyber coverage
Cyber attacks are increasing but despite acknowledging the risk, many global organizations lack robust insurance. A survey of businesses in North America and Europe by NTT Com Security found that just 41 per cent of global organizations are fully covered for both security breaches and data loss and just over a third have dedicated cybersecurity insurance.

The poll of 1000 non-IT decision makers revealed that 12 per cent of businesses have no cyber insurance at all. More than a third of respondents do not believe they need coverage but 41 per cent are thinking about it. There is regional disparity though as 51 per cent of US businesses having cyber insurance compared to just 26 per cent in the UK.

When it comes to the validity of insurance cover, half of respondents cite that lack of compliance with necessary security criteria could invalidate their insurance, while 46 per cent feel that not complying with business policies could be a problem, and 43 per cent point to the lack of an incident response plan.
 
Workers say firms lack emergency plans
A poll of US workers reveals that many would not know how to respond to a physical threat in the workplace and many say that their employer does not have strong protection against risks.
While 90 per cent said that they feel safe in their workplace, 17 per cent feel that it lacks protection against fire, flood or other disaster and 22 per cent don’t believe their employers have emergency plans in place for these risks.

The Harris Poll for CareerBuilder also discovered that almost a third (31 per cent) do not feel that their workplace is well protected against physical threat from another person and 41 per cent don’t think there is an emergency plan for that risk. The figures are similar for digital hacking risks.

For weather-related incidents, 19 per cent did not feel their workplace was well-protected and 26 per cent thought that an emergency plan was lacking.

“As an employer, you have an obligation to protect your employees by every means possible,” says Rosemary Haefner, chief human resources officer at CareerBuilder. “However, an emergency plan is only as good as how well it is communicated. It is crucial that employees not only know about this plan, but have easy access to it and participate in regular drills so they know how to protect themselves and others.”

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