Signs of Coming Trouble for the Insurance Industry
Reinventing Insurance
About Berit Anderson
The Viral Economy, Part 2
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The End of Insurance
How a climate of financial instability is driving unprecedented global losses in the insurance and reinsurance industries
by Berit Anderson
While politicians and lobbyists argue endlessly about whether climate change is human-caused, there is one industry in particular already feeling the financial burden of global climate change: homeowners insurance.
“Despite the manageable impact for insurers, the catastrophic fires highlight that the P&C insurance industry is at the forefront of environmental risk…. The industry is exposed to the economic consequences of climate change, primarily through[its] unpredictable effect … on the frequency and severity of weather-related catastrophic events, such as hurricanes, floods, convective storms, drought, and wildfires.”
– Frank Mirenzi, VP and Senior Credit Officer, Moody’s
Insurance companies around the world suffer direct financial impact whenever a wildfire swoops across Australia or Northern California or a hurricane makes its way up the Eastern Seaboard. And, although most people don’t realize it yet, the numbers at these companies provide perhaps our most accurate real-time indication of the global impacts of climate change. In fact, things have gotten so dire in home insurance that we feel it merits its own discussion as an industry.
