Climate change matters to all of us: The Great Warming - a TV documentary

Swiss Re was the first corporate sponsor to provide financial support and know-how to the TV series The Great Warming. Filmed at various locations around the globe, it includes contributions from concerned citizens as well as experts and scientists, and is narrated by environmentally conscious celebrities. This global TV project is part of our “Sharing Solutions” philosophy to raise awareness on issues that are key to a company like Swiss Re, dedicated to a sustainable future. The documentary shows how climate change can affect our future. It was first broadcasted in Canada in 2004, and will be aired later in other countries.

What makes The Great Warming unique is its focus on solutions and opportunities. The world is on the threshold of a phenomenal, exciting revolution, in which sustainable technology will be the earth’s new paradigm on the road to a more secure future.

The international version of The Great Warming premiered on 22 April 2004 on Discovery Channel Canada, it is narrated by environmentally conscious singer/songwriter Alanis Morissette and actor Keanu Reeves. The internationally promoted three-part series (45-minute instalments) was filmed in eight countries on four continents. It is being endorsed by dozens of the world’s leading scientists.

In the US, a specially produced programme focusing on the issue from an American perspective has been produced for prime-time and aired on PBS (Public Broadcasting System) on 2 November 2005. Production of this 60-minute special is also being supported by Swiss Re and will be called "Global Warming: The Signs and the The Science". The special has been followed by an expert discussion on climate change.

Swiss Re committed financial resources and know-how to support The Great Warming because it believes in the importance of reaching the public at large on this important issue, and considers this TV documentary a powerful means for achieving that aim.

How the human fingerprint is changing our climate

About twenty years ago, scientists began to notice that the fragile balance between temperature and moisture that sustains life on earth is breaking down. There always had been storms and dry spells, heat waves and cold snaps – but that was the normal cycle of the centuries, and this shift is an act of man: a human fingerprint on the diary of nature.

We are living in an era of changing climate, erratic weather, and social calamities that could change our way of life forever. Year by year, the earth is getting warmer – a legacy of the industrial revolution, population growth, and our addiction to technology, speed and power. Heating up the atmosphere appears likely to produce even more unpredictable and extreme weather events than we've seen in the past few years. For insurers, this elevated risk clearly implies we may all have to bear unexpectedly high losses.

Just as the generations before us experienced the Great Plague or the Great Depression, our children will be compelled to endure the Great Warming – and find a way to cope with its challenges.

In 2003, Swiss Re launched an initiative to become greenhouse neutral, making the company the largest global financial services company to do so to date. The programme means a voluntary 15% reduction in its present emissions through direct measures, primarily by further improving energy efficiency. The company will offset the remaining 85% of its carbon emissions by investing in the Kyoto protocol’s "clean development mechanism”.

For Swiss Re, rising pressure on natural resources and growing social instability are not only new forms of risk; they also provide new scope for innovative insurance solutions. Thus the company enables projects aimed at raising the awareness for climate change, publishes studies on this and other emerging issues, which it also discusses with various stakeholders at the Swiss Re Centre for Global Dialogue in Rüschlikon. Another crucial part of Swiss Re’s sustainability commitment is its activity as member of the WBCSD and the UNEP Financial Industry Initiative.

Sponsored by Swiss Re, The Great Warming is a climate change documentary which was released in 2004.