On the first day of the <link www.uncsd2012.org _blank external-link-new-window>United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20)</link>, six European insurances (all members of the interest group <link www.euresa.org/index.php _blank external-link-new-window>Euresa</link>) in cooperation with myclimate and <link www.co2solidaire.org/en.html _blank external-link-new-window>CO2Solidaire</link> launched a new climate solidarity platform. This platform gives the approximately 16 million policy holders the chance to get involved in climate protection. With this platform, the initiators intend to sensitise on the following points:
- better understanding of the problems of climate change;
- discovering ways to reduce their environmental footprint through advice and eco-friendly actions;
- calculation of the estimated greenhouse gas emissions produced by their car and home, two of the items at the heart of the insurance sector and among the highest contributors to global warming;
- information on the initiatives being taken by each of the six insurance companies to assess/reduce their own greenhouse gas emissions.
Subsequently, the policy holders have the possibility to offset their unavoidable emissions in climate protection projects of CO2Solidaire (GERES) and myclimate. With this initiative, citizens, insurances and NGOs bundle their efforts to fight for one of the main challenges of the 21st century: climate protection.