Blair to advise Swiss insurer Zurich Financial on climate change

28 January 2008

ZURICH – Tony Blair will advise Swiss insurer Zurich Financial Services AG on climate change and political issues, the former British prime minister said Monday in a statement.

“There is a consensus now that the challenge of climate change is real, and what we need now are the policy solutions to turn that concern into action,” said Blair, who has become a Middle East peace envoy, adviser to investment bank JPMorgan Chase & Co. and board member of the World Economic Forum since stepping down as prime minister last year.

“That’s why Zurich’s work to look at how business, and in particular the insurance sector, can play its part is so crucial,” he added.

Zurich Financial launched a new “climate initiative” last week to help develop products that address problems related to global warming.