Insurers facing climate change coverage litigation, creating climate change policies
While insurers are bracing for potentially significant climate change coverage litigation (see, e.g., Kivalina) under past and current policies, insurers are simultaneously beginning to develop insurance products for risks associated with technologies designed to address climate change issues.
Some of the insurance industry effort will likely be geared towards shaping public policy on these issues through the sponsorship of studies, such as the Catlin Group’s $6 million Artic Survey. Other insurers, such as Zurich, have created “climate initiatives,” which include internal “climate offices” and “climate change advisory councils.”
While insurance industry efforts to fund research and studies are laudable, even if ultimately designed to create markets for new insurance products, policyholders should be wary that insurers do not use those insurance industry-funded efforts in a self-serving way to develop “evidence” to defeat coverage claims by policyholders for these risks under past and current policies.
http://www.globalclimatelaw.com/admin/trackback/110313
