Climate change peril for insurers

Montana is burning again. This summer, some of the state’s worst wildfires incinerated homes, barns and fences...

Montana is burning again. This summer, some of the state’s worst wildfires incinerated homes, barns and fences, killing livestock and forcing families to evacuate. Wildfires have increased fourfold since the 1980s, and they are bigger and harder to contain because of earlier-arriving springs and hotter, bone-dry summers. As firefighters beat back the flames, insurance companies continue to pay out billions for wildfire losses across the West.

Meanwhile, Florida is bracing for the duration of the hurricane season even as rebuilding continues from the eight hurricanes that crisscrossed the state in 2004 and 2005. Since the 1970s, the number of storms intensifying to Category 4 or 5 hurricanes has almost doubled, costing insurers tens of billions of dollars.

Increasingly destructive weather accounted for 88 per cent of all property losses paid by US insurers from 1980 through 2005.

Story continues below this ad

Ten years ago, Peter Levene, chairman of Lloyds of London, was sceptical about global warming theories, but no longer. “At Lloyds, we feel the effects of extreme weather more than most,” he said in March. “We don’t just live with risk — we have to pick up the pieces afterwards.” Lloyds predicts that the United States will be hit by a hurricane causing $100 billion worth of damage, more than double that of Katrina. Industry analysts estimate that such an event would bankrupt as many as 40 insurers.

Lloyd’s has warned: “The insurance industry must start actively adjusting in response to greenhouse gas trends if it is to survive.”

The Association of British Insurers has called on governments to “stem ominous weather related trends” by cutting carbon emissions. US-based companies AIG and Marsh — respectively, the largest insurer and broker — have joined with other corporate leaders to urge Congress to reduce US greenhouse gas emissions 60 to 80 percent by mid-century.

A.M. Best, the historical voice of insurance, began a series in the August edition of Best’s Review on the risks, regulatory issues and economic impact of climate change.

Story continues below this ad

Nervous investors have begun asking insurers to disclose their strategies for dealing with global warming.

Insurance companies are reacting. Some have simply abandoned catastrophe-prone markets or are jacking up rates. Other insurers have taken steps in the battle against climate change by offering premium incentives for “green” construction and hybrid cars and investing in companies that cut carbon emissions.