Bermuda once again hosts historically vital talks

The 170 delegates at the inaugural Bermuda Climate Summit were the latest and would not be the last to gather on the Island to make decisions of global significance, David Hart, chief executive of the Business Development Agency (BDA), said. Opening the conference in Hamilton on 25 May, he referred to a meeting that had taken place in December 1953 that had also aimed to make the world a better place.

Soon after that meeting, the so-called Western Summit between British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, US President Dwight D. Eisenhower and French Premier Joseph Laniel, Eisenhower delivered his famous ‘Atoms for Peace’ speech on nuclear non-proliferation to the UN General Assembly in New York.

Hart (pictured) said: “I am a lover of history and a student of history and I've enjoyed getting to know some Bermuda history since I started this post at BDA last October. And one of the things I learned recently was a story about how Bermuda has often been a central meeting place for great minds and friends, from both sides of the Atlantic, to come together and discuss important issues of international significance.”

The Western Summit had been held to discuss “very important issues of mutual support”, he said, and so too would the Bermuda Climate Summit.

Bermuda’s risk industry is working to create solutions for the greatest challenge the world now faces from climate change, but which also happens to be the Island’s greatest opportunity, he said.

“Bermuda is already well known as a global thought leader in the space of risk and insurance, but what we're after today is to make sure we start and continue to have that conversation around how Bermuda can be a leader for the globe in climate risk finance.

“Bermuda can and does have an impact around the world, and I'm sure that example from 1953 wasn't the first and today won't be the last. So this conversation will continue well beyond today, I'm confident of it, and we will continue to share Bermuda’s platform and attributes in this space across the globe with new friends and old partners.”

Just as it was for the COP26 climate talks last year in Scotland, the BDA will be part of Bermuda’s delegation to COP27 in Egypt this November.

“Around that same time, we will also have the second Bermuda Climate Summit and I have a feeling, based on interest in this one, that it’s likely to be twice as big as today.”