Findings from Princeton University Update Understanding of Climate Change (Benefits of and Strategies To Update Premium Rates In the Us National Flood Insurance Program Under Climate Change): Climate Change

2022 NOV 22 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Politics, Law & Government Daily -- Current study results on Climate Change have been published. According to news reporting out of Princeton, New Jersey, by NewsRx editors, research stated, “The United States’ National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) has accumulated over $20 billion in debt to the US Treasury since 2005, partly due to discounted premiums on homes in flood-prone areas. To address this issue, FEMA introduced Risk Rating 2.0 in October 2021, which is able to assess and charge more accurate and equitable rates to homeowners.”

Financial support for this research came from National Research Foundation of Korea.

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from Princeton University, “However, rates must be continually updated to account for increasing flood damage caused by sea level rise and more intense hurricanes due to climate change. This study proposes a strategy to adopt updated premium rates that account for climate change effects and address affordability and risk mitigation issues with a means-tested voucher program. The strategy is tested in a coastal community, Ortley Beach, NJ, by projecting its future flood risk under sea level rise and storm intensification. Compared with using static rates for all the properties in Ortley Beach, the proposed strategy is shown to reduce the NFIP’s potential losses to the community from 2020 to 2050 by half (from $4.6 million to $2.3 million), improve the community’s flood resistance, and address affordability concerns. Sensitivity analysis of varying incomes, loan interest rates, and conditions for a voucher indicates that the strategy is feasible and effective under a wide range of scenarios.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “Thus, the proposed strategy can be applied to various communities along the US coastline as an effective way of updating risk-based premiums while addressing affordability and resilience concerns.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: Benefits of and Strategies To Update Premium Rates In the Us National Flood Insurance Program Under Climate Change. Risk Analysis, 2022. Risk Analysis can be contacted at: Wiley, 111 River St, Hoboken 07030-5774, NJ, USA. (Wiley-Blackwell - http://www.wiley.com/; Risk Analysis - http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1539-6924)

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Ning Lin, Princeton University, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Princeton, NJ 08544, United States. Additional authors for this research include Fang Zhang and Howard Kunreuther.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1111/risa.14048. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

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