The insurance industry is ill-prepared to handle climate change-related disasters, regulators and industry watchers warned Thursday, saying the business hasn’t evolved enough in the face of rising sea levels and extreme weather fueled by climate change.
Failure to plan for the effects of climate change might challenge the stability of one of the largest sectors of the world economy, said Mindy Lubber, the president of the sustainability nonprofit organization Ceres, which authored a report that looks at insurers in three states. There were 11 extreme-weather events that each caused at least a billion dollars in losses last year in the United States. Superstorm Sandy alone caused $50 billion in economic losses.
"If climate change undermines the future availability of insurance – something we’re already seeing in places like Florida – it threatens the economy and taxpayers as well," said Lubber, whose nonprofit encourages investors, companies and public interest groups to accelerate sustainable business practices....
Only 23 companies of the 184 required to make such disclosures have comprehensive climate-change strategies....US companies in denial?
Of the 23 insurance companies with a comprehensive strategy to cope with climate change, 13 are foreign-owned, the study found.
McClatchy
Report finds insurers unready for climate change-related disasters
Erika Bolstad | McClatchy Newspapers
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