By Roger Pielke Jr.
The headlines are relentless, loudly proclaiming that climate-fueled extreme weather has caused an insurance crisis, reflected in dramatic rate increases for homeowners and businesses. Some warn that total economic collapse may soon follow.
But as is often the case when it comes to apocalyptic warnings related to climate change, real-world data don’t support the narrative.
In reality, the insurance industry, which provides coverage related to hurricanes, fires and other extreme events, is enjoying a streak of record profits.
Defenders of high premiums say it’s because it’s much more expensive to insure homes because of climate change.
But the recent spike in insurance prices is much more likely due, in significant part, to political requirements across the industry that financial companies consider “climate risk,” and the corresponding suite of risk modelers established to meet the newly created demand.
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As far as the actual effects of changes in climate on expected annual losses in the insurance industry, Verisk, a catastrophe modeling firm long pre-dating the “climate risk” industry, estimates an annual impact of just 1%.
Insurance companies have spent many decades estimating risk. Perhaps regulators should allow them to come to their own conclusions, rather than insisting they use dodgy science and charge customers even more.
Roger Pielke Jr. is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute who writes at the Honest Broker on Substack.
