New Insurance Products Emerging to Tackle Climate and Weather Losses
Dozens of new insurance activities, such as 'green' building credits and incentives for investing in renewable energy, are emerging to tackle the causes of climate change and rising weather-related losses in the U.S. and globally, according to a major new report by the Ceres investor coalition.
But the report also states that more insurance companies need to be offering similar services to minimize losses and make the most of business opportunities related to climate change.
"Climate change poses unprecedented risks to the insurance industry, but it also creates vast opportunities for new products and services to help consumers and businesses reduce their losses, while also reducing the pollution causing global warming," said Mindy S. Lubber, president of Ceres. "We've seen encouraging progress from big-name insurers and brokers since last year's devastating hurricanes, but many more creative services will be needed as we confront what is perhaps the biggest threat in the industry's history."
该报告紧随美国的背靠背飓风季节造成了灾难性的造成的，在2004年和2005年期间造成了750亿美元的保险损失，其中包括仅来自卡特里娜飓风的450亿美元。尽管没有个体的天气事件可以归因于全球变暖，但越来越多的新科学数据表明，越来越多的温度可能会增加飓风，洪水，干旱，野火，野火和其他极端天气事件的强度。
该报告“从风险到机遇：保险公司如何积极地管理气候变化”，重点介绍了保险业在帮助该国抓捕和管理新兴风险的历史上独特而有力的作用。正如该行业主张其领导能力以最大程度地降低建立火灾和地震的风险一样，如今，它的位置良好，可以进一步了解社会对全球变暖的理解，并提高了前瞻性的解决方案，以最大程度地减少其影响。（保险业是世界上最大的行业，年度高级收入为3.4万亿美元。）
The report, written by two insurance industry experts, identifies 190 innovative products and services available or in the pipeline from dozens of insurance providers in 16 countries. Many provide win-win benefits, by reducing financial losses and greenhouse gas emissions. More than half of the activities come from U.S. companies, covering climate change solutions including energy efficiency, green building design, carbon emissions trading and sustainable driving practices. Among the recent offerings that show promise for customers and insurers:
But the report also states that more insurance companies need to be offering similar services to minimize losses and make the most of business opportunities related to climate change.
"Climate change poses unprecedented risks to the insurance industry, but it also creates vast opportunities for new products and services to help consumers and businesses reduce their losses, while also reducing the pollution causing global warming," said Mindy S. Lubber, president of Ceres. "We've seen encouraging progress from big-name insurers and brokers since last year's devastating hurricanes, but many more creative services will be needed as we confront what is perhaps the biggest threat in the industry's history."
该报告紧随美国的背靠背飓风季节造成了灾难性的造成的，在2004年和2005年期间造成了750亿美元的保险损失，其中包括仅来自卡特里娜飓风的450亿美元。尽管没有个体的天气事件可以归因于全球变暖，但越来越多的新科学数据表明，越来越多的温度可能会增加飓风，洪水，干旱，野火，野火和其他极端天气事件的强度。
该报告“从风险到机遇：保险公司如何积极地管理气候变化”，重点介绍了保险业在帮助该国抓捕和管理新兴风险的历史上独特而有力的作用。正如该行业主张其领导能力以最大程度地降低建立火灾和地震的风险一样，如今，它的位置良好，可以进一步了解社会对全球变暖的理解，并提高了前瞻性的解决方案，以最大程度地减少其影响。（保险业是世界上最大的行业，年度高级收入为3.4万亿美元。）
The report, written by two insurance industry experts, identifies 190 innovative products and services available or in the pipeline from dozens of insurance providers in 16 countries. Many provide win-win benefits, by reducing financial losses and greenhouse gas emissions. More than half of the activities come from U.S. companies, covering climate change solutions including energy efficiency, green building design, carbon emissions trading and sustainable driving practices. Among the recent offerings that show promise for customers and insurers:
- 消防员的基金保险正在推出首个“绿色”覆盖范围，包括利率积分和其他激励措施，适用于使用绿色和LEED认证（能源和环境设计领域的领导力）建筑物重建财产的商业建筑所有者实践。总部位于加利福尼亚的消防员基金将在本月开始寻求州监管机构批准，以便今年秋天在全国各州提供产品。
- 马什（Marsh）是世界上最大的保险经纪人，以及全球最大的保险公司AIG推出了碳排放信用担保和其他新的可再生能源相关保险产品，这些保险产品允许更多公司参与碳抵消项目和不断增长的碳排放贸易市场。仅欧盟的碳交易市场预计到2006年底将达到300亿美元。
- Insurer-initiated hurricane loss prevention methods used at nearly 500 commercial locations incurred eight times less damage from Hurricane Katrina than properties that did not make the engineering improvements, avoiding $500 million in property damage. Insurer FM Global says the $500 million in savings came after customer investments of only $2.5 million, and helped make the company profitable in a year when few insurers were.
- 日本保险公司Tokio Marine＆Nichido Life已在印度尼西亚，泰国和其他几个国家重新造成7,500英亩的红树林，以最大程度地减少与旋风相关风险上升的损失。
Dr. Evan Mills, the report's lead author and a scientist at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, said the new insurance offerings are an impressive beginning considering the near-universal lack of interest in climate change among U.S. insurers as recently as two years ago.
米尔斯说：“保险部门有望为长期的国家和国际努力做出重大贡献，以遏制温室气体排放的增长，同时帮助加强社会，以抵制气候变化的近期影响。”“去年的飓风是对该行业的真正唤醒呼吁，许多美国保险公司正在制定计划，以帮助企业最大程度地减少未来的损失。其中许多策略代表了保险公司的新利润中心，而不是仅仅是象征性和慈善活动。”
The report will get close consideration from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), which formed an executive level task force on the climate change issue last December.
华盛顿保险公司专员迈克·克雷德勒（Mike Kreidler）说：“今年夏天，西方毁灭性的野火只是保险监管机构为气候变化及其对保险业的深远影响的最新例子。”专案组。“随着气候变化增加与天气相关的损失的可能性，我们必须寻求新的想法和解决方案，以便保险公司可以最大程度地减少对自己和消费者的影响，同时还解决全球变暖本身的根本原因。”
"This report is timely and important because it provides the most comprehensive assessment yet of insurance products available for proactively meeting climate change challenges head-on," added Nebraska Insurance Director Tim Wagner, who also co-chairs the NAIC task force. "Many of the activities identified have enormous potential to reduce losses and greenhouse gas emissions at the same time."
The new report also outlines the nation's growing insurance availability crisis that has hundreds of thousands of coastal homeowners feeling the combined sting of premium shocks and coverage restrictions after last year's hurricanes. In Louisiana and Florida alone, more than 600,000 homeowners' property policies have been cancelled or not renewed in the past year. In Massachusetts and New York, private insurers have cancelled coverage for more than 80,000 coastal homeowners the past two years, even though it has been decades since the last major hurricane hit the region.
撤退的影响之一是对政府作为最后的保险公司的政府更加依赖。随着越来越多的私人保险公司拒绝采取新的保单或续签现有保单，授权的州经营的保险“池”被迫接管更多的客户和更多的财务风险。
Florida's state insurance pool has swelled to about 1.5 million policyholders and it recently needed a $715 million bailout from the Florida legislature to cover its losses. Mississippi's Wind Pool, which insures coastal property owners, suffered a $745 million loss from Hurricane Katrina, $100 million of which was paid back with a federal block grant.
Commercial businesses are also feeling impacts from coverage restrictions. With $10 billion in insured losses -- including the destruction of 116 oil platforms, and 56 more severely damaged by 2004-2005 hurricanes -- offshore oil producers in the Gulf of Mexico have seen insurance price increases of up to 500 percent.
