Dr Alice Hill: The Insurance industry is the retreating canary in the CLIMATE coal mine

Full 25 min version: [members link: https://youtu.be/NSdk6BwsSQA or https://genn.cc/dr-alice-hill-insurance/ ] Welcome to the ClimateGenn podcast. This summary version is edited from the full interview. Included are the key points from the discussion and the full version can be accessed by all Youtube and Patreon members. Overview of topics covered: US politicians debate the causes of extreme weather, stymying effective longterm policy. “California is the 4th largest insurance market in the world… so to pull out of that is big news!” State run back-up plan - but back-up plans are ballooning as concentrated risk discourages insurers. Extensive wildfires in 2017 and 2018 wiped out quarter of a century (25yrs) of profits in California. Insurers in California are not allowed to use models that account for the growing risk of climate change. Insurance policies evaluate 1 year of risk but climate is a long-term issue. AXA: At some point the world becomes uninsurable with climate change. Can the risk be spread across the nation? How do we build national resilience (fortresses?)? Too much infrastructure already at great risk. Post Covid, many Americans moved into areas “destined to burn”. East coast of America is subsiding and has one of the worst rates of sea-level rise in the world - “A bad combination!” “A profound risk to the stability of our real estate markets. We are watching the problem but there is a reluctance to address the problem… because it is so large!” What do we need to do? We will see large movements of people and devaluation of assets over time.

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