Insuring against climate change impacts still possible: Munich Re

Reuters: Insuring the effects of climate change is still possible anywhere in the world "at the right price" despite increasing natural catastrophes such as hurricanes, reinsurance group Munich Re said on Wednesday. Natural catastrophes resulting in insurance losses of more than $500 million more than doubled in 2008 from 1980, the group said. Most of these can be wholly or partly attributed to the effects of climate change.

In 2008, it is estimated that Hurricane Ike in the U.S. state of Florida resulted in $11.5 billion of insurance losses. "So far, nowhere in the world is uninsurable," said Georg Daschner, member of the board of management at Munich Re. "It is a question of getting the right price and whether people are prepared to pay that price."

Daschner said the company was getting "close to its limits" in Florida, but is seeking ways of passing on its risk exposure to the capital market. "At the right price there is always a way of insuring. The question is whether the consumer wants to pay that price," he added….

Aftermath of Hurricane Andrew in Miami, 1992