Insurers bolt from climate change

Insurers bolt from climate change

Insurance companies are pulling out of some areas hit by an apparent increase in climate-related disasters, says Dr Jeremy Leggett, scientific director for Greenpeace International's climate campaign.

Following recent cyclones in Samoa, one company has announced it will withdraw from the field as its policies expire, while another has stopped offering cyclone coverage. In Hawaii, the islands' fifth-largest insurer has announced it will cease trading, brought down by claims of $300 million due mainly to climate-related damage.

Leggett says the insurance industry is facing an economic crisis due to climate-related disasters, and is taking "increasingly seriously" the possibility that these are related to the greenhouse effect. Hurricane Andrew caused $20 billion in insurance losses when it cut a swathe across Florida last year.

Nine insurance companies collapsed in the wake of Andrew and Hurricane Iniki in Hawaii late last year.

Dr Leggett has just completed a report, Climate change and the insurance industry, which is being taken seriously within the industry. He recently addressed representatives of Lloyds and other insurance companies at a seminar in London's "City" (the financial district).

From GLW issue 87