University of Oxford Details Findings in Climate Change (A Bridge Over Troubled Water? Flood Insurance and the Governance of Climate Change Adaptation): Climate Change

2022 NOV 08 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- A new study on Climate Change is now available. According to news reporting originating from Oxford, United Kingdom, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “Floods are one of the most commonly occurring natural hazard events globally, and present a significant threat to the UK from climate change. Operating since 2016, Flood Re is an industry-government initiative, set up with the goal of reforming the flood insurance market in order to provide universal, affordable cover for UK households.”

Our news editors obtained a quote from the research from the University of Oxford, “Principally providing reinsurance services to insurers and including mutualisation arrangements, it aims to withdraw from the market in 2039, having paved the way for risk-reflective pricing without subsidy. Drawing on the theoretical work of Francois Ewald, and empirical data from interviews with 12 key stakeholders and documentary analysis, this paper traces a shift in Flood Re’s insurantial imaginary, exemplified by the devel-opment of several solutions which go beyond its initial remit of providing reinsurance to private insurers. Findings show that this shift has been driven by the growing realisation that climate change is not merely a complicating factor for the ability to achieve a thriving insurance market, but demands a paradigmatic change in the governance of flood risk. We argue that Flood Re has an opportunity to adopt a leadership role in the governance of climate adaptation, but that it must be expanded to include a wider variety of stakeholders covering land-use planning, housing, consumer and community representatives.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “That a market for flood insur-ance that delivers on risk reduction and affordability for all can be brought about without structural reform to the industry nor a strong role for the state, is a delusion in light of climate change.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: A Bridge Over Troubled Water? Flood Insurance and the Governance of Climate Change Adaptation. Geoforum, 2022;136:80-91. Geoforum can be contacted at: Pergamon-elsevier Science Ltd, The Boulevard, Langford Lane, Kidlington, Oxford OX5 1GB, England. (Elsevier - www.elsevier.com; Geoforum - http://www.journals.elsevier.com/geoforum/)

The news editors report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Sam Hampton, University of Oxford, School of Geography and the Environment, Oxford, United Kingdom.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2022.08.008. 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.

(Our reports deliver fact-based news of research and discoveries from around the world.)