Greeny News

Insurance Risk understand - why, unlike our myopic political class, they did not head in the sand

When it comes to climate change, the US Congress is a hornets' nest of political dysfunction. Last month, President Barack Obama nominated energy executive John Bryson to lead the commerce department. From the response of congressional Republicans, you might have thought Obama had nominated Ed Abbey and Rachel Carson's imaginary love child.

In 2009, Bryson, the boldness, a cap-and-trade system to tackle climate change 40 years earlier and had the support that he helped start the Natural Resource Defense Council. This Darrell Issa led (Republican, California) to him as "green evangelist" ridicule, while Senator John Barrasso (Republican, Wyoming) called Bryson a "environmental extremist" and Senator James Inhofe (Republican, Oklahoma) coupled it as "one of the founders of the radical environmental group".

Symptomatic of the climate change deniers take the ring road discussion, the Washington Post recently banished to the global warming "second-tier issue" status. But for a powerful sector of the economy - and one that 'sa strong contribution to the congress campaigns - it' sa first-tier problem: the insurance industry.

While climate Zombies in Congress are lurching step towards environmental disaster, the insurance industry has to crawl, to act. It 's well past time we heard what they have to say. Unless the Republican party is the party of big business, they might want to lend an ear as well.

Insurance companies have a vested interest in reducing the risks of climate change. As scientists and the military, they 're used to do, and planning for uncertainty. As scientists have made it clear that climate change is cranking the dial to extreme weather events. In the past 30 years, catastrophic economic losses have risen (pdf) with the global temperature, the chops in insurance 'profits. With landscapes and livelihoods in the extreme weather conditions vertebrae, insurance company executives drawn - especially in Europe - are the message.