Climate change is the missing link in Florida’s property insurance crisis

Miami Herald (FL)

Floridians are well aware that homeowners insurance costs have risen significantly. The state’s average premium is $4,200, triple the national average. Some private insurers are withdrawing from Florida entirely, leaving property owners to scramble for coverage from Citizens Property Insurance, the state-run insurer of last resort, or to forgo property insurance entirely.

This isn’t happening randomly. Insurers are raising prices because it’s getting riskier and more expensive for them to provide insurance. It’s incorrect to attribute these rising risks to climate change alone: inflation, Florida’s legacy of insurance-related litigation and ongoing construction in hurricane-vulnerable coastal areas also all have played major roles.

But it would benefit the insurance industry and Floridians alike if insurers, reinsurers, insurance brokers and industry consultants would think more about climate change and how the insurance industry can help Florida build physical and financial resilience.

Insurance is essentially a promise: If something goes wrong for a property owner who has insurance, their insurer will provide a payout to help make things right again in exchange for a premium. Insurers set premiums based on a number of factors, including the value of the property they’re insuring, its design and the materials it’s made from, and the frequency and potential severity of the hazard it might face.

Climate change is disrupting insurers’ calculus. Hotter ocean temperatures and warmer air are strengthening hurricanes, increasing potential damage to the homes and businesses that insurers are on the hook to cover. Industry models and data used to estimate losses and set premiums are not yet able to fully capture the ways in which climate change is changing risk.

Simultaneously, climate change is intensifying extreme weather globally, meaning that many of the same insurance companies who face growing risks in Florida also must contend with greater risks in other geographies. In exchange for taking on more risk, insurers charge more.

Most companies in the insurance industry are private, meaning they have no formal obligation to ensure that Floridians can continue to access affordable insurance for their homes and businesses. But by helping Florida communities navigate intensifying climate-related risks, the insurance industry could also help itself. For example:

Citizens is one of dozens of “protection gap entities” around the world that bring together government and the insurance industry to try to figure out how to provide affordable insurance coverage. Could Citizens explore alternative insurance approaches that have succeeded in other geographies, including New York City?

Many insurance organizations have made public commitments on environmental and social sustainability. Collaboration with communities can help them fulfill these commitments and reduce reputational risks.

The impacts of climate change and extreme weather are increasing exponentially. To avoid their worst effects, Florida and the insurance industry must recognize the ways in which their risks are interdependent, and commit to collaborating on solutions.

Kate Stein manages relationships with insurers for WTW, a global insurance broker and consultancy. This opinion piece was distributed by The Invading Sea website (www.theinvadingsea.com), which posts news and commentary on climate change and other environmental issues affecting Florida.