Bermuda can lead climate change finance charge

Bermuda can be at the cutting edge of a wide range of climate finance initiatives that include re/insurance of all types, according to David Hart, chief executive of the Bermuda Business Development Agency (BDA).

Speaking to the Bermuda Society in London, Hart said that the BDA had been at last year’s COP26 climate change summit in the UK and had been able to make a case for Bermuda’s place in leading those financial initiatives.

Hart stressed that Bermuda was rich in human capital, was familiar with the risks related with climate, had a sophisticated regulator in the Bermuda Monetary Authority that understood the market well and had a Government that was supportive of business and environmentally friendly.

The BDA’s climate risk summit in May in Bermuda was extolled by Hart as a great success that had brought a wide variety of people from government, regulators, science and risk management together.

Hart stressed that it had been important for Bermuda to return to in-person events after the virtual meetings of the past few years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, although he added that the advantages of online working had attracted many financial professionals to Bermuda.

The BDA will be sending out a number of trade missions this year, visiting Toronto and Singapore, before going to the COP27 climate change conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt in November.