APRA executive member Geoff Summerhayes.Credit:Chris Pavlich
Australian Prudential and Regulation Authority executive Geoff Summerhayes lashed government inaction in London overnight,arguing the summer's extreme weather,severe drought and floods were all fuelled by climate change,but Australia still lacked the political consensus needed to respond to the threat.
He told the UN's sustainable insurance forum that the idea of taking action to address climate change only as"a luxury or financial burden was redundant".
Speaking as the forum's chair Mr Summerhayes said there was no doubt that failure to meet the targets set down under the Paris Agreement would have serious consequences for both environmental and financial stability.
"The debate has typically centred around the economic cost of acting,with sceptics alternatively arguing that climate change is a con,or overstated,or that reducing carbon emissions will harm Australia’s economy at the expense of rivals,"he said.
"As regulators and supervisors,our mandates are also strongly focused on financial sustainability:helping the institutions we oversee remain strong,stable and able to continue meeting their promises to their customers.
"With every passing year,as the world moves closer towards the low carbon economy,those two definitions become ever more entwined."