UK's Met Office 'Confirms' Greenhouse Gas Role in Climate Change

The UK's Met Office recently completed a review of the latest climate research. The study "confirms our planet is changing rapidly and man-made greenhouse gas emissions are very likely to be the cause," said the organization's bulletin.

"Long-term changes in our climate system have been observed across the globe, from shifts in rainfall patterns to a decline in Arctic sea-ice. The changes follow the pattern of expected climate change and bear the 'fingerprint' of human influence, providing the clearest evidence yet that human activity is impacting our climate," it added.

The review studied developments in climate science since the last IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – www.ipcc.ch ) report (AR4) was published in 2007. "Sophisticated 'detection and attribution' methods have been used to identify long-term changes in our climate," the Met Office explained.

It then rhetorically asked the following questions concerning climate changes:
-- Whether they are being caused by natural variability — such as changes in energy from the sun, volcanic eruptions, or natural cycles such as El Niño?
-- and, if not, is there evidence that human activity could be to blame?

"Conclusions show the climate system is changing in a number of ways which follow the pattern of climate change predicted by computer models. The only plausible explanation is that changes are happening as a result of human activity, including man-made greenhouse gas emissions."

Peter Stott, Head of Climate Monitoring and Attribution at the Met Office, added: "Recent advances in observational data and the way it is analyzed give us a better insight into the climate system than ever before. This has allowed us to identify changes in our climate and disentangle natural variability from the results.

"The science reveals a consistent picture of global change that clearly bears the fingerprint of man-made greenhouse gas emissions. This shows the evidence of climate change has gone beyond temperature increases — it is now visible across our climate system and all regions of the planet. Our climate is changing now and it's very likely human activity is to blame."

The review also indicated that there is "some evidence that changes in rainfall patterns could be happening faster than expected. More work is needed to understand why and whether this implies future changes in rainfall could be greater than models predict."

Some of the observed changes covered in the review of climate science were listed as follows:
-- Temperature increase — global temperatures have increased by about 0.75 °C [1.35°F] over the past century and 2000-2009 was the warmest decade on record. Human influence has been detected on every continent.
-- Changes in rainfall patterns — wetter regions of the world (mid to high latitudes in the northern hemisphere and tropical regions) are generally getting increasing rainfall, and drier regions less rainfall.
-- Humidity — surface and satellite observations show moisture in the atmosphere has increased over the last 20-30 years. This increases the amount of water that can fall in extreme rainfall, posing flooding risks.
-- Warming oceans — temperature increases have been observed over the last 50 years in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Ocean basins. These cannot be attributed to changes in solar activity, volcanic eruptions or variations in ocean currents, such as El Niño.
-- Salinity — the Atlantic Ocean is becoming saltier in sub-tropical latitudes. This is because of increasing ocean evaporation due to increased temperatures. In the long-term, ocean regions at higher latitudes are expected to become less salty due to melting of glaciers, ice sheets and increased rainfall.
-- Sea-ice — summer minimum of Arctic sea-ice is declining at a rate of 600,000 km² [375,000 square miles] per decade, an area approximately the size of Madagascar. While there has been variation from year to year, a long-term trend has been observed that can only be explained by human influences.
-- Antarctic — there has been a small increase in Antarctic sea ice extent since the satellite record began in 1978. This small change is consistent with the combined effects of greenhouse gas increases and reductions in the ozone layer which cause increases in some regions, such as the Ross Sea, and decreases in others, such as the Amundsen-Bellingshausen Sea.

Aviva Exec Says Prudential/AIA Deal Creates Opportunities for Rivals

The proposed $35.5 billion takeover of AIA by Prudential Plc will offer opportunities for rival insurers to increase their market share in Asia, a top official at British insurer Aviva Plc said.

"For competitors it does give some opportunities," Simon Machell, chief executive of Aviva Asia-Pacific, told Reuters in an interview on Monday. "First of all, while they go through what is going to be a big, complicated and time-consuming merger, there will be opportunities to take some business."

Last week, Britain's No.1 insurer Prudential announced the insurance sector's biggest ever transaction by agreeing to buy American International Group Inc's Asian life insurance business.

The transformation deal is expected to put pressure on insurers to seek more mergers to remain competitive in the fast-growing Asian region. The Prudential-AIA combine is set to become the dominant player in at least nine Asian markets if the deal goes through.

However, Machell said the deal was unlikely to change Aviva's Asian growth strategy, which is largely built around organic growth. "I don't expect there to be many sellers, and any sellers that generally are tend to be commanding a pretty high price," he said.

Keeble Joins ACE UK Environment Team

ACE UK has appointed Victoria Keeble as Environmental Risk Underwriter. She will report to Wayne Harrington, UK & Ireland Manager – Environmental Risk and work within the London environmental team to underwrite business in this fast growing sector.

Keeble has extensive knowledge in the field. She previously underwrote environmental business at AIG and Certa for seven years. Before moving into insurance she worked in environmental consultancy with Laing and WS Atkins. She holds an MSc from Imperial College in Environmental Technology and a BSc in Geology from the University of Bristol.

ACE's bulletin noted that it "offers a comprehensive range of insurance products and services to help clients to manage their environmental risks. These solutions offer a broad spectrum of coverage arising from pollution and other environmental damage, including the clean-up of own property and surrounding land and water; third-party liability including nuisance; damage to biodiversity and business interruption."

Harrington commented: "The challenge of managing their environmental risks effectively is becoming a major issue for our clients and we're investing significantly in both the expertise and products to help them. Victoria's background in environmental consultancy, and more recently in the insurance sector, gives her exactly the insight and experience our clients need. We're delighted to welcome her aboard."

Source: ACE UK - www.acelimited.com