Weather & climate risk management strategies to be discussed at WRMA’s 12th Annual European Meeting

The weather risk management market is maturing as the methods used to hedge and trade the weather evolve into tools which address new types of risk and attempt to mitigate the effects of a changing climate. The Weather Risk Management Association (WRMA) has been at the core of the market since its launch in 1999, helping to assist and steer the markets direction and evolution. In September the WRMA hold their 12th Annual European Meeting in Düsseldorf, Germany.

A press release from the WRMA follows below:

Weather Risk Management Asssociation to Address Climate Change, Risk Management Strategies at 12th Annual European Meeting in Dusseldorf

WASHINGTON, DC (23 August 2011) – The Weather Risk Management Association (WRMA) will hold its 12th Annual European meeting 14-16 September 2011 at the offices of host company E.ON Energy Trading in Dusseldorf, Germany.

Dr. Mojib Latif, Germany’s leading expert on climate change from the Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences at the University of Kiel (IFM-GEOMAR), will give the opening keynote address during the opening session on 15 September. Dr. Latif is one of the first internationally renowned scientists to associate global climate change to human activities, such as the burning of fuels. “Man cannot stop the global warming, but he can slow it down significantly,” says Dr. Latif, who will discuss the latest activities to combat climate change.

WRMA has also confirmed noted tephrachronologist Dr. Simon Blockley from Royal Holloway, University of London, to discuss volcanic activity forecasting and the impacts on weather. Since 2003, Dr. Blockley’s work has focused increasingly on studying volcanic ash deposits (tephra) as part of wider studies of past climate change. Dr. Blockley will address the increase in global volcanic activity.

Dr. Erick Andersson of the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts will discuss the current forecasting models and explain what end users need to keep in mind when reading model output. With drastic weather changes seen over the past few years, companies are using these models as well as other available weather risk management products to minimize their risk of lost profits and increased expenses.

International meeting attendees representing 14 countries and 5 continents will have an opportunity to learn how Stadtwerke and energy companies can utilize weather risk management tools to offset the negative impact of weather on the bottom line. Experts will examine renewables’ vulnerability to weather risk and how companies can mitigate the weather risk involved with wind and hydropower. This meeting will also feature a discussion of the most recent advances in weather risk management for the agriculture sector.

WRMA’s 12th Annual European Meeting offers weather risk professionals material of all levels from the Introduction to Weather Market Basics workshop to the Regulatory Update with Clifford Chance’s Claude Brown. Coupled with the extensive networking events, attendees will have plenty of opportunity to increase their knowledge of the industry while helping to shape its future.

For more information and to register for WRMA’s 12th Annual European Meeting, please visit www.wrma.org.