In our role, as actuaries, as long-term risk managers, climate change may have a considerable impact on some of our work, and, at the very least, we need to be able to answer clients' questions on the issue. The aim of this meeting is to come to a consensus on what that impact might be and how it can be managed. The impact on society and on the economy of climate change is subject to a great deal of uncertainty. We need to ascertain the risks; what they are, the degree of uncertainty, the potential magnitude and the time frame.

Earlier, the Environmental Research Group of the Actuarial Profession had conducted a survey of actuaries on climate change and its implications, by means of a questionnaire. The analysis of this questionnaire is printed here, as an indication of the reactions of those actuaries who responded.