Insuring Against Heavy Weather

Available for over a year

Insurance premiums are on the rise as extreme weather events take their toll. It's as a result, they say, of climate change. But is insurance, and business generally, doing enough to prepare for the tougher storms yet to come? The effects of climate change are of course unpredictable on a regional basis - not everywhere for example is getting hotter and dryer - but the UN predicts extreme weather events will present a growing challenge to our daily existence, and for that matter to many businesses. Sharlene Leurig is a Senior Manager at Ceres, a nonprofit organisation that argues for greater sustainability. She's recently written a report about what she sees as a severe failing in the US insurance industry to respond to the commercial threats that climate change poses. John Coomber represents a range of European Insurers, who have formed Climatewise, a leadership group within the industry to drive action on climate change risk. And can new technology help us to build so as to better weather the storms?