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Major insurer explores risks using insurance to reduce climate shocks global food supplies
Posted by ClimateWire: Evan Lehmann on June 23rd, 2015
ClimateWire: A stress test prepared by Lloyd's of London concluded that a chain reaction of floods, drought and related diseases could cripple the world's food supply, leading to a crisis that could spark further unrest, including the possibility of rioting in major cities, a terrorist attack in the United States and even a Russian invasion. Lloyd's, a major global insurer, outlined the scenario in a report last week. It is seen as an unlikely but possible scenario that could cut across the insurance industry's...
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US disaster aid must be overhauled to deal with climate threats, insurers warn
Posted by ClimateWire: Evan Lehmann on April 22nd, 2015
ClimateWire: A coalition of insurance companies and environmental organizations is calling for a "complete overhaul" of the nation's disaster policies, which it says encourage dangerous development and wasteful spending after catastrophes strike.
The SmarterSafer coalition urges policymakers in a 21-page report released today to increase pre-disaster spending on mitigation efforts, like raising homes and restoring oyster beds, to tackle climbing losses from floods and other perils exacerbated by climate change....
Floods could affect twice as many people worldwide within 15 years
Posted by ClimateWire: Evan Lehmann on March 6th, 2015
ClimateWire: River flooding could affect 54 million people worldwide in 2030 as more extreme rainfall and the rapid expansion of cities double exposure to inundation, according to a new analysis. Currently, 21 million people are affected annually by floods. The project by several research organizations in the Netherlands and the World Resources Institute developed the first public tool that shows the estimated flood risk in most countries and how it's expected to rise over the next 25 years. The project, called...
Carbon Pollution Costs More Than U.S. Government Estimates
Posted by ClimateWire: Evan Lehmann on January 13th, 2015
ClimateWire: Climate change could have much larger impacts on the economy than the U.S. government is anticipating, according to an analysis released yesterday that suggests the social cost of carbon should be six times higher.
A paper by two Stanford University researchers argues that the true cost of releasing greenhouse gases is about $220 a ton because rising temperatures could badly hinder a nation's economic growth over decades or centuries. The Obama administration estimates that the social cost of...
Images damage from extreme weather may lower political support climate action
Posted by ClimateWire: Evan Lehmann on February 20th, 2014
ClimateWire: A picture might be worth a thousand words -- and still not convince people that climate change is happening.
Recent research suggests that images of devastating floods, cracked fields of earth and roaring hurricanes might be less effective at conveying the emotional impacts of extreme weather than media outlets think. They can be too scary, or of places too far away. Others might cause a yawn.
Either way, it's likely that many pictures of disasters are tossed in the psychological trash can,...
Big insurers are brought into discussions on how to protect NYC against future storms
Posted by ClimateWire: Evan Lehmann on December 14th, 2013
ClimateWire: Some of the world's leading insurance companies assembled in a room on Wall Street this fall to hear the opening pitch for a massive undertaking, constructing a chain of coastal barriers to defend the New York City region from future flooding.
The ambitious vision differs from the $14 billion system completed recently by the federal government to protect New Orleans from hurricanes that might mimic Katrina. The East Coast project, a potential network of walls, gates and dunes, would be financed...
One year after Sandy, New Jersey towns accelerate dune building, despite holdouts
Posted by ClimateWire: Evan Lehmann on October 26th, 2013
ClimateWire: That stubby dune is now at the center of a major shift that stands to strengthen local officials against oceanfront homeowners who refuse to surrender thin strips of their beach property to the federal government for a much more ambitious program of dune construction.
The change came in July, when the state Supreme Court reversed a lower court ruling that granted $375,000 to Harvey Cedars homeowners Harvey and Phyllis Karan after the town took a section of their beach through eminent domain. The...
San Diego, bracing for climate change, studies its weaknesses
Posted by ClimateWire: Evan Lehmann on March 29th, 2013
ClimateWire: A collection of experts are assembling in San Diego to wrestle with the city's seesaw climate challenges that include heat-sparked wildfires on one side and increased floods from rising seas on the other.
The meeting will pull together insurers, real estate developers and officials from the area's largest infrastructure projects, like the airport and the city's sprawling seaport, to probe climate impacts on the city and identify ways to prepare for more. Climate scientists and city planners will...
U.S. Hit with 90% of the World’s Disaster Costs in 2012
Posted by ClimateWire: Evan Lehmann on January 7th, 2013
ClimateWire: The United States led the world in disaster losses last year as a massive drought seared Midwestern crops in the field and as superstorm-driven waves wreaked havoc and blackouts along the East Coast. They added up to one of the most expensive weather damage years on record.
Nearly all the world's economic damage from storms, drought, fire and earthquakes was centered in the United States as it experienced the highest temperatures ever recorded, according to Munich Re, a global reinsurance company....
Ancient North Carolina records show sea-level rise is related to warmer temperatures
Posted by ClimateWire: Evan Lehmann on June 20th, 2012
ClimateWire: Some North Carolina lawmakers have accused scientists of using "made up" estimates of sea-level rise. But a top researcher says some of the world's best evidence for climbing oceans comes from the ground beneath their feet.
Stefan Rahmstorf, a German climatologist whose research led scientists to reconsider accelerated sea-level rise, said an embattled report by North Carolina experts, recommending that the state prepare for a 39-inch rise by 2100, is a reasonable policy when building homes and...