Resource and Environment Working Group

Membership of the Resource and Environment Working Group (REWG) is open to all individuals with the relevant knowledge and interest.

To serve as a working group within the IAA devoted to Resource and environment issues that have relevance to and/or affect the work of actuaries in their various areas of practice, or are relevant to the subject of actuarial science or to which the actuarial profession may be able to contribute.

• Research, collect and assemble existing relevant information about environmental issues to extend the body of knowledge of the international actuarial community. Environmental issues include (but are not limited to) climate change, natural resource depletion, scarcity or sharply increasing costs of commodities such as oil, food or medicines.
• Pro-actively make actuaries aware of the nature and availability of information on environmental issues; facilitate exchanges of opinion and information within the actuarial community and emphasize quality over quantity.
• Identify and analyze the various ways changes in the environment can affect the factors that need to be taken into consideration by actuaries to estimate risks and potential variations in financial impacts.
• Identify risks and opportunities for the profession worldwide and survey existing actuarial activities to help gradually develop consensus and generally accepted principles as well as guidelines for the benefit of practicing actuaries in particular or the subject of actuarial science in general; output can be in the form of methodologies and illustrations of practical applications or any other.
• Support IAA efforts to promote the profession to suitable global institutions, research entities, the insurance industry and the academic world.
• Serve as an umbrella for facilitating the coordination of efforts congruent to the purpose of the REWG by individuals, IAA member associations and other entities within the IAA and the actuarial profession, especially when this involves cooperation with other international bodies.
• Encourage and promote presentations and papers by actuaries at professional seminars, colloquia, conferences, webcasts, etc.
• Monitor the use of information by actuaries and others, assess the value added and obtain feed back to improve the utility of the REWG.

Agendas and papers:
All meetings will have a formal agenda agreed by the Chairperson that generally must be distributed, along with required papers, at least one week before each meeting. Agendas and meeting papers should normally be available from the REWG page on the IAA website.

Minutes:
Draft minutes of each meeting will be prepared and distributed to the membership after each meeting. Minutes approved by the REWG will be available from the REWG page on the IAA website as soon as practicable after each meeting.

Reporting on REWG Activities:

• The Committee will report on its activities to the Scientific Committee and the Chairperson will prepare a draft workplan and budget for the next calendar period for approval by the Scientific Committee.
• The Chairperson will provide a written update report to the IAA Secretariat after each REWG meeting.

IAA Liaison:
The REWG will liaise with other IAA committees, Working Groups or Sections as required to carry out its role and activities. In particular, it will share with the Working Groups on Mortality and Population Issues information regarding environmental developments and initiatives that can impact on the work of these two groups.

External Liaison:
The REWG will liaise with similar groups in local actuarial associations as well as external stakeholders as required to carry out its role and activities. These liaisons are subject to any requirements or processes of the IAA Statutes and Internal Regulations.

Other operational matters:
The REWG will share information regarding developments and initiatives in relation to the environment via the REWG page on the IAA website.