The hurricanes of the last two seasons are strong warnings of the increasing threat that climate change represents to insurers and their customers, according to a recent report by Ceres, a coalition of investors that directs the Investor Network on Climate Risk.
“Insurance, as we know it, is threatened by a perfect storm of rising weather losses, rising global temperatures, and more Americans than ever living in harm's way,” said Mindy S. Lubber, president of Ceres. “Insurers and regulators have failed to adequately plan for these escalating weather events, which scientists predict will intensify in the years ahead due to warming global temperatures.”
Although no individual hurricane can be attributed to global warming, rising global temperatures in the coming decades are likely to cause significant increases in severe weather events, such as hurricanes, floods, hailstorms, wildfires, droughts, and heat waves, the Ceres study predicts. In the past three decades, insured losses from catastrophic weather events have increased 15-fold, the report noted, losses that have far out-stripped premium increases, inflation, and population growth over the same time period.
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