Live Insurance News

Is the federal crop insurance program keeping up with climate change?

February 9, 2024February 8, 2024 Logan B.

Crop insurance - A person touching wheat

Few changes have been made in the program despite rising risks associated with global warming. Risk has always been a part of farming, particularly due to its dependence on the weather in any given season or year, and crop insurance has become a key part of the survival of many farms across the United States. That said, risks associated with weather have been changing, but the program has altered very little. The massive federal crop insurance program has helped farmers to ensure their businesses survive in times of flooding, drought,…

Impact of climate change to make insurance prohibitively expensive, says Munich Re

March 29, 2019March 28, 2019 Julie Campbell

The largest reinsurance company in the world has cautioned that most people won’t afford coverage soon. For several years, insurance companies have been warning that the impact of climate change will be an expensive one. Munich Re, the largest reinsurance company in the world, is now warning that global warming will make insurance too expensive for most people. The reinsurer has already blamed climate change for $24 billion in California wildfire losses. Munich Re chief climatologist, Ernst Rauch, explained in a recent Guardian report that it won’t be long before…

Insurance industry calculations required to change due to climate change impact

October 24, 2018October 23, 2018 H. Cutner

Insurance industry calculations - Global Warming

Insurers have become the front line of the unpredictability linked with the Earth’s rapid warming. Insurance industry calculations are being forced to change as a result of the impact of climate change on the risks facing multiple sectors. Due to the nature of the business, insurance companies are among the first to face these issues. Measurably increasing rates of natural disasters are raising the number of claims and the size of those insurance claims to property, business, and auto insurers. Storms such as hurricanes and tornadoes, as well as droughts…

Insurance companies to feel climate change effects most, but aren’t investing that way

June 8, 2018June 7, 2018 Julie Campbell

Climate Change effects - Hands - globe - world

Insurers will be hit hardest by rising global temperatures, but their investments aren’t low-carbon. The insurance industry will feel climate change effects more powerfully than most other industries. That said, a new Forbes report suggests insurers are failing to invest into the low-carbon economy. The insurance sector is most threatened by droughts, floods, extreme heat and severe storms. However, the report shows that climate change effects don’t appear to be enough motivation to change investing habits. These firms are some of the largest investors in the world and stand to…

Climate change may have a higher economic impact than previously believed

June 2, 2017June 1, 2017 Nordstrom

climate change city smog urban heat island effect

The damage rising global temperatures is causing may become much more expensive than predicted. A recently published report has placed the spotlight on the “urban heat island” effect of climate change. This effect was detailed in the Nature Climate Change journal, revealing that urban centers will see a considerably greater expense from global warming. The report was based on an analysis of 1,692 cities around the world and the impact changing temperatures will have. The analysis determined that the economic impact of climate change may be 2.6 times greater than…

Will the global insurance industry save us from climate change?

April 25, 2016April 24, 2016 G. Turner

global insurance industry - earth day plant growth

Earth Day turned a lot of heads toward the critical environmental issues we’re facing. The global insurance industry has stepped up and has shown that it was listening when scientists around the world made it clear that the top message they wanted to share on Earth Day 2016 was that the planet’s temperatures are rising. Regardless of whether people agree with the cause of the matter, it is happening in a measurable way. Why is the global insurance industry showing concern? For one thing, it’s made up of people who,…

Climate risk insurance gets $30 million from United States

December 7, 2015December 8, 2015 Julie Campbell

The goal of this investment into the coverage is to help to ensure the poor will be protected against changing weather patterns. President Barack Obama recently announced that the United States would be contributing $30 million toward coverage from climate risk insurance programs throughout the Pacific, Central America and Africa. The announcement was made by the president while he attended a meeting in Paris with small island nation leaders. The U.S. Department of State added to the president’s announcement by explaining that these funds are a component of a larger…