Risk management key to climate change effort: IPCC

Management behavior and changes in lifestyle can help to mitigate the effects of climate change, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's fourth assessment report "Climate Change 2007."

The report said that while climate change mitigation technologies do exist in some industrial sectors, they are not yet being fully used in industrialized countries.

The IPCC is a body established by the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Environmental Programme, two United Nations organizations.

The Federation of European Risk Management Assns. said the report showed that there are opportunities for businesses to develop products and processes to improve energy efficiency, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

"As companies implement technologies and practices to respond to climate change, so risks will change at an operational level and engage an increasing number of risk managers," said Marie-Gemma Dequae, president of FERMA and group risk manager for Kortrijk, Belgium-based N.V. Bekaert S.A., in a statement.