Aon establishes Climate Advisory Council in Australia to address climate risks and best practices in the region

SYDNEY, 9 November 2022 - Aon plc (NYSE: AON), a leading global professional services firm, today announced it has established the Climate Advisory Council to address climate risks and best practices in Australia and the region.
 
The 2022 series explores the theme ”Clarity and Confidence to Make Better Decisions” and will map out the core issues impacting businesses and the critical decisions that leaders and their teams face day-to-day.
 
Aon Australia’s Climate Advisory Council has been formed with the Climate Change Research Centre (CCRC) at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, which focuses on the process-level understanding that explains the behaviour of climate extremes that directly affect Australian natural and economic systems.
 
The aim of Aon Australia’s Climate Advisory Council with the CCRC is to provide the latest climate science for the region, obtain expert external peer review, and act as a conduit for technical discussion and inquiry on climate-related initiatives.
 
“Our Council provides Aon and the CCRC a forum to openly discuss scientific and industry developments, gaps and opportunities in managing physical climate risk. Aon’s clients in the region will benefit from the collaboration with the CCRC through access to the latest climate data, specialised analysis and advisory services on physical climate risk, helping them make better decisions as they navigate climate volatility. Having a formalised ongoing relationship with this academic consortium also provides an opportunity for Aon to participate in discussions related to climate risk and lends an external research-based assessment as an objective source inrelation to climate risk and solutions in the industry,” said Dr Tom Mortlock, senior catastrophe research analyst at Aon and adjunct fellow at the CCRC.
 
The CCRC is Australia’s largest climate science centre and hosts the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes (CLEX) - a consortium of five of Australia’s leading universities: the University of New South Wales, Monash University, the Australian National University, the University of Melbourne and the University of Tasmania, with investment from The Bureau of Meteorology, New South Wales Government’s Research Attraction and Acceleration Program and the NSW Department of Planning and Environment.
 
“The Climate Change Research Centre is delighted to support the Climate Advisory Council,” added Professor Andrew Pitman, director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes and member of the Climate Change Research Centre. “As climate science becomes increasingly material for assessing business risk, and as the needs of business become increasingly central in defining research priorities,a forum of this kind has the potential to accelerate academicindustry engagement.”
 
Professor Katrin Meissner, Director of the Climate Change Research Centre also welcomed the establishment of the Climate Advisory Council and the on-going opportunity to developed closer links between leading scientists and business.
 
Robert De Souza,chief executive officer for Reinsurance Solutions in Australia and New Zealand said: “I am delighted that we are able to join with colleagues at the CCRC to work in this field, which is of critical importance to our clients and our community. The formation of the council demonstrates Aon's commitment and leadership in climate risk solutions, providing a valuable resource for University researchers on the latest market developments and industry needs on climate-related issues and aligning research priorities and gaps. We are collaborating with top climate academic researchers to better understand risk and directly implement research into catastrophe models to estimate the financial impacts across Australia and globally."
 
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