Global Warming Swelling Insurance Risk
Washington Post:
The insurer of last resort, the government faces a potential payout of at least $919 billion under a worst-case scenario of flood and crop losses due to global warming, congressional investigators say.
That total has grown from about $209 billion in 1980, and could be even higher today because it is based on two-year-old data, according to a report. It recommends an analysis of the potential long-term implications of climate change for federal flood and crop insurance programs.
‘We’re looking at more floods, droughts, pestilence, fires and storms – all carrying dire economic consequences,’ Sen. Joseph Lieberman, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said Thursday.
Lieberman and Maine Sen. Susan Collins, the committee’s top Republican, requested the report from the Government Accountability Office, an arm of Congress.
Collins said the report shows that ‘global warming also threatens to burden consumers and taxpayers with billions of dollars in added costs as insured losses from floods and storms cause increases in federal spending and insurance premiums.’
The National Flood Insurance Program‘s exposure rose to $875 billion in 2005, compared with $207 billion in 1980, the report said. The Federal Crop Insurance Corporation‘s exposure increased to $44 billion, from $1.7 billion.
