For the second year in a row, the International Actuarial Association (IAA) has sent delegates to COP 28, including Canadian representatives, Stuart Wason, fellow of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries (FCIA) in 2022 and FCIA and former Canadian Institute of Actuaries (CIA) president, Simon Curtis in November 2023. In a podcast for the CIA, Curtis discusses the actuarial profession’s role in providing the reliable and credible information that stakeholders require when making policy and adopting climate standards.

“The IAA is very fortunate that we’ve earned NGO (non-governmental organization) observer status with the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change), which is the United Nations’ climate change body. This actually allows us to send delegates to the meetings with Blue Zone access.” (Blue Zone accredited delegates are those engaged in key negotiations. An associated trade show is known as the Green Zone.) 

“COP 28 stands for the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which is quite a mouthful. 2023 was the 28th annual conference,” Curtis explains. Held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, the conference also hosts more than 150 heads of state at any given time.

In addition to building existing relationships with organizations like the World Meteorological Organization which models climate change, the delegates also gave some visibility to the actuarial profession.

Flying below the radar screen 

“The actuarial profession frequently flies below the radar screen of many actors in the climate change space, just as we often do in other spaces. We’re a very understated profession,” Curtis says. “As soon as we highlight the skills and expertise that actuaries have in assessing, modelling and managing contingent risk, a real light bulb goes off and people immediately see the potential contributions we can make as a profession.”

He says those grappling with new International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) disclosure standards (the ISSB is an arm of the International Accounting Standards Board), which stakeholders are expected to adopt quickly over the coming years, will require the help of actuaries. Similarly, sustainable insurance – a big topic of particular importance to the developing world – is another space he says actuaries will be needed.

“There’s clearly a real need for reliable, certified, quantitative as well as qualitative information that people can trust. This was mentioned again and again,” Curtis says. “I think this is a space that actuaries can walk into and do a lot of positive work.”