Only One Of Every Eight Insurance Companies Have Formal Policies To Handle Likely Climate Shifts

[hatrack]

EW YORK, Sept 1 (Reuters) - Only one in eight insurers has a formal policy in place to manage climate risk, despite rising evidence that environmental changes are exacerbating insurers' disaster losses, according to a coalition of public interest groups.

The coalition, Ceres, looked at 88 filings from six states by insurance companies, using a form developed by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. Ceres said it was the first-ever effort to quantify how U.S. insurers manage climate risk in their day-to-day operations.

Despite the broad lack of a formal policy, Ceres said insurers generally acknowledge the problem of climate change and the effect it can have on their business. "Even those insurers with no formal climate policy, no climate risk management structure and a stated belief that the company is not vulnerable to the effects of climate change still name perils that may be affected by climate change 20 percent of the time," Ceres said in its report.

Of the 11 companies with formal climate policies, two -- Prudential Financial (PRU.N) and Genworth Financial (GNW.N) -- are life insurers. The rest are mostly multi-line insurers or reinsurers. Among them are ACE Ltd (ACE.N), AIG's (AIG.N) Chartis unit.

EDIT

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/09/01/insurance-environment-idUSN1E77T1B720110901

[aquart]

1. You'd think the insurance industry would be at the forefront of climate change initiatives.

Get the feeling they pay their executives too much money?

[hatrack]

2. Well, you see, those executives live in gated communities w. private security . . .

So as climate destabilizes, they just won't really feel the effects . . . .

[pscot]

5. Their end of the boat

isn't sinking.

[phantom power]

3. Thing is, the answer is likely to be "a lot more stuff will become uninsurable"

There isn't a lot of percentage for them to adapt ahead of time, when "adapt" probably means "go out of business, or become a boutique industry"

[MisterP]

4. and why should they? they and the WH will just blame global warming on people

refusing to buy insurance, Congress will pass an individual mandate, and Dems who'd otherwise be in the streets will be whooping and hollering for the law 'coz the GOP complains about it