Establishing new principles for green insurance South Africa and Brazil are leading the developing world in a rethink of the way in which insurers manage risk. Together, the two countries, which have 40 of the 433 signatories to the UN Environmental Programme Finance Initiative, started global consultation meetings on the subject, including in Johannesburg in early 2011. Rise in disasters triggers review of risks The catastrophe in Japan triggered by an earlier succession of an earthquake, a tsunami and a nuclear scare underlined the need to deal with the rise in risks from natural disasters, short-term insurer Santam’s head of strategy, Vannessa Otto-Mentz, said.