What It Does: The company provides clients in over 120 countries with advice and solutions that give them the clarity and confidence to make better decisions to protect and grow their business.
Mission: We exist to shape decisions for the better—to protect and enrich the lives of people around the world.
Size & Presence: Above 50,000 employees
It’s common to think about the impact of climate change as the physical damage and loss due to severe weather events and environmental disruptions. But climate change is affecting another important area of our lives: health and wellbeing. The health risks from climate-related events are varied and numerous. Changes in climatic conditions such as air pollution, erratic weather patterns, extreme heat, floods, smoke from wildfires, etc. can influence the spread of food-, insect- or water-borne diseases and give rise to chronic conditions such as cardiovascular and respiratory illnesses or even cancers. On top of this, large-scale natural disasters — or living in an area at risk of such perils — can also have an impact on mental health.
The costliest climate and catastrophe events of 2021 were in the U.S., where $167 billion in economic losses were 93 per cent above the 21st-century average. At least 23 individual events in the U.S. caused economic losses of $1 billion or more in 2021.
Natural disaster losses were a worldwide phenomenon, however. Global economic losses from natural disasters were 27 per cent above the 21st-century average in 2021. Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, Austria and China all experienced their costliest insurance industry events on record last year.
Among those widespread losses, individuals have experienced great personal hardship in the wake of natural disasters and climate change.
“As we think about climate change — extreme weather events come immediately to mind as they are more perceptible, however, when we take a wider look we clearly see how climate change affects health,” says Avneet Kaur, head of the Advisory and Specialty Practice, Health Solutions EMEA, at Aon.
There are a number of steps employers can take to help address the health impacts of climate change. “Businesses usually have insurance in place to cover property losses from catastrophic events,” says Kaur. “But when it comes to employee health — imagine a flood. You would need physical or emotional trauma management helplines, and services, to provide support for your employees and their families. These employee support systems could kick in immediately with a catastrophic event. Not a lot of companies are doing that yet.”
Organizations also can introduce training for leaders and managers on how to support employees in the wake of major disasters. Businesses can provide resources such as employee assistance plans to workers and their families suffering from stress, anxiety and depression.
Employers can also look at their own business operations and consider their impact on climate, the global community, and marginalized populations, in particular, Kaur says. “Start educating employees about the impacts of climate change, and how their personal and professional actions can make a difference.”