Bermuda can lead the charge in climate change financing

According to David Hart, Managing Director of the Bermuda Business Development Agency (BDA), Bermuda can be at the forefront of a wide range of climate finance initiatives that include re/insurance of all types.

Speaking to the Bermuda Society in London, Hart said the BDA attended last year’s COP26 climate change summit in the UK and was able to advocate for Bermuda’s place in the leadership of those financial initiatives.

Hart pointed out that Bermuda was rich in human capital, knowledgeable about climate-related risks, had a sophisticated regulator within the Bermuda Monetary Authority who understood the market well, and had a business-friendly and environmentally friendly government. .

The BDA’s Climate Risk Summit in May in Bermuda was hailed by Hart as a great success that brought together a wide variety of people from government, regulators, science and risk management.

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

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