Before you do anything else, enter your address with Risk Factor and discover what climate change will cost you.

Insurance

INSURANCE

Insurance companies are in the business of predicting future loss, and so must ensure that they reserve for such events. What happens when the history they have is no longer a reliable guide for predicting the future? And then, what happens when those insurance companies begin to use forward-looking extreme weather models to price policies.

This is critical because the future, and even the present, no longer looks like the past. Large hurricanes that used to be infrequent are getting more common. The hottest days are often beyond what anyone has ever experienced. Evidence that in June, we recorded the highest single-day temperature the world has ever experienced and, in July, the hottest week.

America has only recently begun factoring in those accelerated risks as more frequent floods, droughts, wildfires and hurricanes, as well as precipitation and sea level rise, become the inevitable consequences of a warming planet.

As a result insurance companies nationwide are leaving homeowners in the lurch. We are observing this in Florida, North Carolina, Louisiana, Colorado, Oregon and California which have all seen insurers fold, cancel policies, cease writing new policies or leave the state  altogether after repeated floods, hurricanes and wildfires. AIG is even focusing on affluent ZIP codes to reduce sales in New York, Delaware, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming and Colorado.

In May 2023, two federal science agencies, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) responded, announcing that they were creating a research center to bring climate change data to the insurance industry so they can use climate science to look into the future.

On September 20, 2023 First Street Foundation, a nonprofit that works to define and communicate risks posed by climate change, published its most recent report and devastating is an understatement. Tens of millions of properties around the country are insured at prices that haven’t caught up with the danger of hurricanes, wildfires, and floods. First Street estimates that 39 million US homes are insured at artificially suppressed prices compared to the risk they actually face.

THE ECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES OF CLIMATE, SO FAR…

  • NOAA reports, on its website, that the U.S. has sustained 360 weather and climate disasters since 1980 in which damages/costs reached or exceeded $1 billion for a total of $2.575 trillion.

    The 2019 share was $53.1 billion; 2020 was $115.4 billion; 2021 was $157 billion; 2022 was $175.2 billion.

    Through June 2023, with twelve events, the U.S. already reached $32.4 billion in damages (and 100 deaths) which is more than any total year prior to 1992. These events were all caused by tornadoes, severe hail, high winds, extreme flooding, record snowfall and copious rainfall.

  • The impact of these extreme weather events on everything from housing to food production is as far-reaching as it is frightening.  Already in 2019, Rostin Behnam of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission told the NYT, “It is abundantly clear that climate change poses financial risk to the stability of the financial system.” 

  • David Keys was driven to title his Opinion piece for The New York Times in May, 2023: Your Homeowners’ Insurance Bill is the Canary in the Climate Coal Mine.

HOW ARE INSURERS RESPONDING TO EXTREME WEATHER EVENTS?

They are raising their rates. They are reducing the number of homes they’ll insure. They are lobbying states for more freedom to increase rates. The ramifications are huge. Across the U.S., premiums jumped 12% from 2021 to 2022.  By 2023, more and more insurers are pulling back from vulnerable areas. Without insurance, banks won’t issue mortgages, making homes harder to buy or sell. While insurers can choose to stop offering insurance, the homeowners and governments they leave behind will still have to deal with the risks. And as the costs go up, more households may decide to reduce their coverage or may choose to go without insurance entirely.

As some private insurers retreat from higher-risk areas, state-backed “insurer of last resort” plans are stepping into the void. The number of enrollees in these state-backed plans rose by 29 percent between 2018 and 2021. These plans are often more expensive, they offer less coverage than private insurance options, and they face the same concerns as private insurers about their ability to pay out in the event of a crisis without burdening policyholders statewide.

WILDFIRES ARE DECIMATING THE INSURANCE MARKET IN THE WEST

FLOODING AND HURRICANES HAVE CLAIMED THE REST OF THE COUNTRY

It is not just wildfires that insurers are worried about. Scientists are confident that climate change is fueling hurricanes capable of whipping up more dangerous storm surges, as well as increasing the odds of extreme rainfall events (20% of the country can now expect a 1-in-100-year storm every 25 years) that can and are triggering inland flooding. In fact, unless you live in the 1% of U.S. counties that were not impacted by flooding between 1996 and 2019, your property may be at risk for flood damage. 

  • In 2021, CNN reported that flooding is the most common and costly natural disaster in the U.S., that in the previous decade, floods caused more than $155 billion worth of damage, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and that there are nearly 4.3 million residential properties around the country with a substantial risk of financial loss due to flooding. It’s estimated that only one-third of households in flood zones have flood insurance — with many risking financial ruin if the “big one” hits.

  • Imagine the costs if a category 5 hurricane hits New York. Already, Superstorm Sandy, in 2012, dealt a devastating blow to New York City, parts of New Jersey, and much of Long Island. Owing only to Sandy’s last-minute turn away from the South Fork, the storied Hamptons, where multi-million-dollar properties were too often developed practically to the ocean’s edge, escaped the worst of it. Nonetheless, it was immediately clear that higher, and perhaps much higher, insurance premiums would follow. 

  • In Florida, no stranger to flooding and hurricanes, Hurricane Ian killed more than 100 people in 2022 and caused an estimated $67 billion in private market insured losses, according to RMS. Losses, rate price controls and litigation costs have all prompted big insurers to pull back. As the state lost insurers (Farmers was the 4th major insurer to step back on July 3, 2023), more than 1 million Floridians have joined the state-backed Citizens plan, which is backed up by taxpayers and homeowners. The Florida exodus is the latest sign that climate change, exacerbated by the use of fossil fuels, is destabilizing the U.S. insurance market. Already, homeowners in the state pay about three times as much for insurance coverage as the national average, and rates this year are expected to soar about 40%.  Meanwhile, warmer air and water are making hurricanes stronger and more damaging.

  • July, 2023 had 55 million people in the Northeast under flood threats and 14 million under a tornado watch as Vermont, New York, and Pennsylvania experienced catastrophic rainfall.

SURELY, THERE IS FEDERAL FLOOD INSURANCE

Flood damage (storm surges, hurricanes, torrential rains) is generally excluded under standard homeowners and renters insurance policies but available as a separate policy from the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), administered by FEMA, and some private insurers (but limited to $250,000). FEMA is responsible for flagging high-risk zones where property owners with federally backed mortgages must purchase flood insurance but they rarely account for risks from intense rainfall. The National Flood Insurance Program, billions in debt due to years of disproportionate rates and repeated disasters, only recently enacted the so-called Risk Rating 2.0 restructuring.

In June, 2023, Forbes created a very useful guide to flood insurance here and another explaining how FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program works here.

IS THE CLIMATE ALSO AFFECTING CROP INSURANCE?

Crop insurance is heavily subsidized by the Federal Crop Insurance Program (created in 1938 following the Great Depression) paying farmers when their crop yields or revenues decline and expensing billions of taxpayer dollars each year (taxpayers pick up about 60% of premiums). It is a huge safety net. Payments have risen rapidly from just over 41.5 billion in 1995 to $8.5 billion in 2020, as the climate crisis fueled extreme weather events across the country. Higher prices, and consequently higher premiums (and subsidies), will inevitably follow. Though much depends on the future escalations of greenhouse gas emissions and the resulting severity of future warming, climate change is expected to decrease domestic production of corn, soybeans, and wheat and have an outsize impact in the future.

In January, 2022, the headline at Reuters was ‘U.S. crop insurance payouts rise sharply as climate change worsens droughts, floods”.

ANY GOOD NEWS?

If there is a bright spot in the insurance sector, it is to be found in the industry’s growing recognition that climate change poses a significant threat to its long-established business model. Some companies’ practices are evolving as they simultaneously encourage policyholders to adapt and mitigate, and claimants to rebuild according to green standards.

Insurers have also begun looking at the dangers posed by companies without sufficient environmental concerns. Chubb will, for example, in 2022 cease underwriting new risks for companies that generate more than 30% of their energy production from coal. The two largest reinsurance companies in the world, Munich Re and Swiss Re, are both no longer insuring new oil and gas projects as of Spring, 2023. 

The next step for environmentalists will be to push more companies to shed their coverage of existing coal projects as well as all oil and gas.

Can you insure against climate change?

CURRENT NEWS

California plans big insurance shifts as climate change hits home

By Brianna Sacks 09/22/23
California top leaders announced Thursday that they are making reforms to the state’s insurance system to stabilize the market, a big shift in one of the nation’s most disaster-prone states with one of the world’s…
Read more

US Home Insurance ‘Bubble’ Closer to Popping as Climate Risks Mount

By Leslie Kaufman 09/20/23
Home insurance costs that have soared in much of the US may get even higher. Tens of millions of properties around the country are insured at prices that haven’t caught up with the danger of…
Read more

How Crop Insurance Prevents Some Farmers From Adapting to Climate Change

By Grey Moran 09/20/23
Chris Grotegut has earned a reputation in the High Plains of Texas for farming practices that have helped replenish the region’s depleted aquifer. Just over a decade ago, he began converting his 11,000-acre farm to…
Read more

Insurance Majors Invest In Fossil Fuels While Cutting Coverage Due To Climate Risks

By Steve Hanley 09/19/23
A new report unveiled this month finds that the US insurance sector held $536 billion in fossil fuel-related assets in 2019, despite some insurers citing climate-related risk and natural disasters as factors in raising premiums…
Read more

The debate over crop insurance, as climate change drives the price up

By Frank Morris 09/14/23
Climate change is making insuring crops more risky, but the federally subsidized crop insurance program's payouts are up 500%. With a new Farm Bill coming, critics want to rethink the program.
Read more

Climate Change Is Causing an Insurance Crisis in Louisiana

By Leslie Kaufman 09/11/23
A little over a year ago, Peter Gardner, a Louisiana developer, completed rehabbing an apartment building with 144 units and got a surprise so ugly it made him decide to move his business out of…
Read more

Insurance Companies Lambasted for Their Climate Disaster Protection Racket

By Jordan Haedtler and Brad Johnson 09/09/23
Yesterday, as Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria, and Hong Kong suffered deadly, record-shattering flooding, Hurricane Lee exploded into a ferocious Category 5 storm in the Atlantic, the United Kingdom hit its most extreme September heatwave, and a…
Read more

As climate-fueled weather disasters hit more U.S. farms, the costs of insuring agriculture have skyrocketed

By Georgina Gustin 09/07/23
The country’s farmers took in a record $19 billion in insurance payments in 2022, many because of weather-related disasters, according to a new analysis that suggests climate change could stoke the cost of insuring the…
Read more

Climate Change Means Californians Need Flood Insurance Now, Too

By Todd Woody 09/05/23
Californians know wildfires and earthquakes; hurricanes, not so much. So when Tropical Storm Hilary inundated Southern California in normally bone-dry August, it showed just how exposed homeowners are to a growing financial risk from unpredictable…
Read more

Home insurers cut natural disasters from policies as climate risks grow

By Jacob Bogage 09/03/23
In the aftermath of extreme weather events, major insurers are increasingly no longer offering coverage that homeowners in areas vulnerable to those disasters need most. At least five large U.S. property insurers — including Allstate,…
Read more

Congress faces ticking clock on flood insurance as hurricane season picks up

By Aris Folley 09/01/23
Congress is facing a time crunch to prevent a lapse for the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) as hurricane season intensifies. As fears of a shutdown swirl around a heated funding debate in Washington, D.C.,…
Read more

As flood risk changes, many communities brace for insurance rate shock

By Kery Murakami 09/01/23
Earlier this year, much of Valley City, Illinois, was underwater because of another flood from the Illinois River. According to a news report, the town, which has a history of flooding, appeared “like a ghost…
Read more

KEY RESOURCES

The 9th National Risk Assessment: The Insurance Issue

09/20/23
Wildfire risk across the United States has been increasing in recent years, as described by a number of studies of the observed increased wildfire incidence, and relatedly, the increasing threat to forests and communities (Burke…

Federal Crop Insurance Program (FCIP) participation

05/03/23
Since its inception in the 1930s, the Federal Crop Insurance Program evolved into a key Federal support program for agriculture in the United States. The USDA, Risk Management Agency (RMA) oversees FCIP and offers agricultural…

The Cost of Climate: America’s Growing Flood Risk

02/22/21
New research from First Street Foundation analyzes the economic impact of underestimated flood risk to properties throughout the United States. Current understandings of expected flood risk and its potential damage continue to underestimate the full…

Insure Our Future, Not Fossil Fuels

12/23/19
Insure Our Future holds the insurance industry accountable for its role supporting the drivers of climate change. The campaign is calling on insurers to stop insuring and investing in coal and tar sands projects and…

Seeking Higher Ground: How to Break the Cycle of Repeated Flooding with Climate-Smart Flood Insurance Reforms

07/25/17
The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) was designed to help Americans recover from flood disasters, but it can also unintentionally trap homeowners who would prefer to move somewhere safer. Instead of moving, many policyholders find…

MORE NEWS

Florida property insurance costs rising faster than any other state

By Nicolás Rivero   06/07/23  
Anyone in Florida who has opened a home insurance bill in the last few years knows premiums have been skyrocketing. New estimates from a data analysis company shows they’ve actually been rising faster than in…
Read more

Uninsurable America: Climate change hits the insurance industry

By Andrew Freedman and Nathan Bomey   06/06/23  
Decisions by two major insurers to stop offering new homeowner's policies in California highlight the growing portion of America that's becoming close to uninsurable. Why it matters: The threat of climate change-related disasters is a…
Read more

Why are insurers fleeing California?

By Isaac Saul   06/05/23  
Today, we're covering insurers who are leaving California. Is it climate change, regulatory policy, or something else? Plus, a question about whether Americans actually want non-biased news.
Read more

Climate Shocks Are Making Parts of America Uninsurable. It Just Got Worse.

By Christopher Flavelle, Jill Cowan and Ivan Penn   06/02/23  
Insurance companies, tired of losing money, are raising rates, restricting coverage or pulling out of some areas altogether — making it more expensive for people to live in their homes. “Risk has a price,” said…
Read more

It’s not just State Farm. Allstate no longer sells new home insurance policies in California

By Eliyahu Kamisher, Max Reyes and Biz Carson   06/02/23  
Californians looking to buy a house face some of the country’s most expensive real estate prices and wildfires that threaten scores of housing tracts. Now there’s another obstacle: finding an insurer willing to cover their…
Read more

Millions of low-income Florida residents at risk of major insurance coverage gap

06/01/23  
Factors including stronger storms fueled by climate change, a strained insurance industry and ineffective state regulations have placed millions of low-income Florida residents at risk of a major insurance coverage gap. Manuel Bojorquez has more.
Read more

Climate change fuels an insurance crisis

By Olivier Knox   06/01/23  
You probably missed the second-biggest national political story of the past week, assuming you agree the debt limit deal is the first. It’s this: State Farm, arguably California’s largest provider of home insurance, won’t accept…
Read more

10 states and scores of local governments sue FEMA over higher flood insurance rates

By Debbie Elliott   06/01/23  
Ten states and dozens of municipalities are suing the Biden administration over rate hikes in the National Flood Insurance Program. That program offers coverage in high-risk flood areas and is administered by FEMA, the Federal…
Read more

The potential impact of climate change on travel insurance

05/31/23  
When it comes to “cancel for any reason” insurance policies, the small print will often disregard unseasonable weather or unforeseen activity cancellations which begs the question, as the environment alters, should travel insurance too? Veuer’s…
Read more

Insurance industry turmoil over climate alliance exodus

Ian Smith and Kenza Bryan   05/30/23  
Please use the sharing tools found via the share button at the top or side of articles. Copying articles to share with others is a breach of FT.com T&Cs and Copyright Policy. Email licensing@ft.com to…
Read more

Insurers flee climate alliance after ESG backlash in the U.S.

By Tommy Wilkes, Alexander Hübner and Tom Sims   05/26/23  
A United Nations-convened climate alliance for insurers suffered at least three more departures on Thursday including the group's chair, as insurance companies take fright in the face of opposition from U.S. Republican politicians.
Read more

Will antitrust concerns be the death knell for insurers’ net-zero commitments?

By Polly Bindman   05/24/23  
Insurers with climate commitments have found themselves at the centre of a heavily politicised debate over whether coordinated climate action contravenes antitrust laws, leading three major insurers to exit the Net-Zero Insurance Alliance this week.
Read more

Burning Hot: 50 Years of Fire Weather Across the United States

05/24/23  
Climate Central examined historical trends in fire weather—a combination of low humidity, high heat, and strong winds—across the U.S. This analysis uses data from 476 weather stations to assess trends in 245 climate divisions spanning…
Read more

Insurance firms need more climate change information. Scientists say they can help

By Rebecca Hersher   05/23/23  
Climate-driven floods, hurricanes, wildfires and heat waves cause billions of dollars of damage every year in the United States. Federal scientists hope that better access to climate data will help one industry adapt: property insurers.
Read more

Insurance firms need more climate change information. Scientists say they can help

By Rebecca Hersher   05/23/23  
Climate-driven floods, hurricanes, wildfires and heat waves cause billions of dollars of damage every year in the United States. Federal scientists hope that better access to climate data will help one industry adapt: property insurers.…
Read more

Insight: Heat insurance offers climate change lifeline to poor workers

By Gloria Dickie, Simon Jessop and Shivam Patel   05/22/23  
A bright sun beat down on the sprawling Indian market where Kamlaben Ashokbhai Patni sat worrying about the brass jewellery on display in her wooden stall.
Read more

Your Homeowners’ Insurance Bill Is the Canary in the Climate Coal Mine

By Benjamin Keys   05/07/23  
If you don’t think you’ve been affected by global warming, take a closer look at your last homeowners’ insurance bill: The average cost of coverage has reached $1,900 a year nationwide, but it’s $4,000 a…
Read more

Home Insurance Premiums Rise as Americans Flock to Weather-Worn States

By Debra Kamin   05/05/23  
Home insurance premiums are on the rise, and a key driver for the price increase is climate change. Yet, Americans are moving fastest to Florida, Texas and other states most at risk for climate-related natural…
Read more

Bringing climate risk home, one property at a time

By Saul Elbein   04/26/23  
By the time a homeowner who buys a house today pays off a typical mortgage, there is a good chance they will live in a different climate — one threatened by stronger winds, more frequent…
Read more

Colorado legislature poised to create “last resort” property insurance plan as crisis looms

By Noelle Phillips   04/06/23  
Colorado wildfires are making it harder for homeowners and businesses to buy property insurance, and now the General Assembly is poised to create a public insurance plan to serve as a last resort for those…
Read more

Mortgages, Home Values, and Climate Change: Insurify Poll Reveals Top Homeowner Concerns

By Chris Schafer   04/03/23  
The home market has gone through significant changes since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. More flexibility due to the rise in work-from-home jobs, coupled with historically low interest rates, fostered a booming real estate…
Read more

Stop insuring carbon projects ‘immediately’, activists tell bosses

By Tom Sims and Simon Jessop   03/28/23  
A group of climate activists has called on 30 insurance company bosses to "immediately" stop underwriting new fossil fuel projects in the wake of a stark climate warning from U.N. scientists, a letter seen by…
Read more

Climate Change Is Destabilizing Insurance Industry

By Thomas Frank   03/23/23  
The president of one of the world’s largest insurance brokers warned Wednesday that climate change is destabilizing the insurance industry, driving up prices and pushing insurers out of high-risk markets. Aon PLC President Eric Andersen…
Read more

Insurer Chubb demands energy producers cut methane emissions for coverage

By Leslie Scism and Rhiannon Hoyle   03/22/23  
Global insurer Chubb Ltd. is tightening its requirements on insurance policies for oil-and- gas producers, demanding that they reduce emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas.
Read more

Climate change creates heightened workers comp exposures

By Jon Campisi   03/22/23  
Climate change has hit states’ workers compensation systems, as more severe weather patterns, wildfires and other incidents have resulted in lost worker hours and had detrimental effects on mental health, among other things, a panel…
Read more

Insurers slashed Hurricane Ian payouts far below damage estimates, documents and insiders reveal

By Brianna Sacks   03/11/23  
Companies altered licensed adjusters’ reports of Hurricane Ian damage without their consent, resulting in lower payouts for homeowners, a Post investigation found....
Read more

Florida commercial property in for big insurance hikes this year

By Lidia Dinkova   03/08/23  
Florida commercial property owners that have been dealing with escalating insurance costs for years are in for more bad news. This year, insurance rates in the state are expected to go up by 45 percent…
Read more

Where U.S. house prices may be most overvalued as climate change worsens

By Brady Dennis   02/16/23  
The nation’s real estate market has yet to fully account for the increasing threats to millions of homes from rising seas, stronger storms and torrential downpours, according to new research published Thursday.
Read more

Record-High Crop Insurance Subsidies Are Unsustainable

01/27/23  
The federal crop insurance program is the most expensive program authorized in the farm bill, excluding nutrition spending, and is a primary driver of monoculture commodity production in the United States. Record-high taxpayer subsidies benefit…
Read more

‘Living with risk’: Wildfires fuel insurance worries out West

By Avery Ellfeldt   12/23/22  
More residents of the western United States are finding it difficult to secure affordable homeowners insurance — a growing problem made worse by climate-juiced wildfires. Wildfire risk is bearing down on property insurance markets across…
Read more

Fla. lawmakers force homeowners to buy flood insurance

By Thomas Frank   12/15/22  
Hundreds of thousands of Florida property owners face requirements to buy flood insurance under a precedent-setting bill approved Wednesday by the state Legislature. It’s the first mandate of its kind in the country.
Read more

Florida Developers Are Holding Off on Big Projects as Insurance Costs Surge

By Deborah Acosta   11/29/22  
David Lynd, a San Antonio-based developer of large-scale apartment buildings, had been expanding his business in South Florida. But recently, he decided to put one of his new projects on hold.
Read more

With Climate Impacts Growing, Insurance Companies Face Big Challenges

By Renee Cho   11/03/22  
The impacts of climate change are all around us: sea level rise, severe heat waves, drought, extreme rainfall, more powerful storms. These impacts are making natural disasters more intense and more frequent. Between 1980 and…
Read more

Hurricane Ian could push insurers out of Florida

By Isabelle Gerretsen   10/21/22  
Analysts say the excessive costs from the storm could lead to insurers either avoiding Florida property altogether or charging sky-high premiums to homeowners. The category four hurricane, which was one of the most powerful to…
Read more

Some risks too big: Insurers withdraw from fossil projects

By Frank Jordans   10/19/22  
Insurance companies that have long said they’ll cover anything, at the right price, are increasingly ruling out fossil fuel projects because of climate change — to cheers from environmental campaigners. More than a dozen groups…
Read more

Treasury to insurers: Divulge your climate risks

By Thomas Frank   10/19/22  
The Biden administration launched an unprecedented effort Tuesday to analyze how climate change is affecting property insurance costs and availability. The move comes as homeowners face soaring premiums in several states and dwindling insurance options.…
Read more

Californians Who Fortify Their Homes Against Wildfires Will Now Pay Less for Insurance

By Lauren Leffer   10/19/22  
California homeowners might soon see some reprieve in skyrocketing property insurance rates. That is, if they take steps to wildfire-proof their houses. The West Coast state is the first in the country to require insurance…
Read more

Treasury Dept. to ask insurers for data on climate risks

By Ephrat Livni   10/18/22  
The department is proposing to gather information from across the country to establish where climate change is making property insurance unaffordable or inaccessible.
Read more

Ian may push Florida real estate out of reach for all but the super rich

By Christopher Flavelle   10/13/22  
The hurricane’s record-breaking cost will make it even harder for many to get insurance, experts say — threatening home sales, mortgages and construction.
Read more

Lack of flood disclosure laws is putting home buyers at risk

By René Marsh   10/01/22  
Since she moved in, Jones said the property has seen some level of flooding about 30 times, but the most severe was in March 2020.
Read more

Risky Business: Underinsured Against Climate Disaster

09/30/22  
Home and property insurance is complicated and typically boring – until a disaster happens to you. In recent years, hundreds of thousands of people in high-risk disaster areas across the U.S. have been dropped from…
Read more

Hurricane Ian’s Devastation Shows the Challenge of Pricing Climate Risk

By Ephrat Livni   09/29/22  
Hurricane Ian, now downgraded to a tropical storm, is expected to inflict as much as $40 billion in property damage claims and much higher total economic losses, RBC Capital Markets analysts calculated in an early…
Read more

As climate change threatens more homes, some properties are getting too costly to insure

By Kate Dore   08/07/22  
As climate change threatens the U.S. with more natural disasters, it’s becoming increasingly costly for Americans to insure their homes ⁠— and it’s only expected to get worse, according to experts.
Read more

‘This is not a survivable market.’ Insurance crisis hits Fla.

By Thomas Frank   06/22/22  
FedNat’s pullback is the latest in a stunning series of insurance cancellations, nonrenewals and company liquidations that have left Florida residents struggling to find coverage at the start of a hurricane season that is projected…
Read more

This Year’s Hurricane Season Threatens One Of The U.S.’s Biggest Economies

By Alejandro De La Garza   06/02/22  
As the June 1 start of hurricane season approached last week, Florida lawmakers raced to address a crucial gap in the state’s coastal defenses: property insurance. Insurance markets in the state are in crisis, with…
Read more

Tomorrow is not the same as yesterday

11/09/21  
Dr. Lou Gritzo, vice president and manager of research at FM Global, joins StrategicRISK to talk about the changing climate and how businesses can make resilient choices. Lou, thanks for joining us to discuss climate…
Read more

Long Island flood insurance premiums will rise for most homeowners but some will see big price cuts

By Jonathan LaMantia   11/05/21  
Three in four Long Island homeowners insured under the National Flood Insurance Program will see their premiums rise next year, while a smaller contingent will see their annual bill cut by $1,200 or more.
Read more

What could finally stop new coal plants? Pulling the plug on their insurance.

By Steven Mufson   10/26/21  
The campaign to stop the proliferation of coal plants may come down to a bit of financial engineering: pulling the plug on insurance coverage. More than 30 insurance companies have announced restrictions on underwriting coal…
Read more

What the US climate-risk review means for FHA, VA loans and more

By Daniel Houston   10/19/21  
A federal effort to make private flood insurance available to FHA borrowers in flood zones is nearing final approval, according to the White House’s latest climate-risk report.
Read more

Should You Get Flood Insurance for Your Home?

By Ronda Kaysen   10/08/21  
In the weeks since Hurricane Ida flooded her Maplewood, N.J., basement with eight inches of water, Ingrid Nagy has been trying to figure out how to financially protect herself from the next big storm.
Read more