The Association of Bermuda Insurers and Reinsurers (ABIR) has signed on to the Insurers’ Principles for Climate Change Adaptation drawn up by the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) with support from the property casualty insurance industry.
The six principles outline active steps that can be taken to improve the resilience of American homes, businesses and communities in the face of changing climate conditions.
The principles call for the development of a National Climate Change Resilience Strategy in the United States and touch on areas including building codes and intelligent land use; increasing funding availability for building resilience; and the leveraging of climate data and analytics to better inform climate change adaptation decisions.
John Huff, ABIR’s Chief Executive Officer, said: “At ABIR and our member companies, climate risk is at the heart of our business. We view policies and actions to increase the resilience of homes, businesses and public buildings – as outlined in the IBHS principles – as hugely valuable to communities, especially in catastrophe-prone regions.
“Our industry in Bermuda has a long track record of helping American communities to recover from disasters. Bermuda re/insurance companies paid out about $30 billion, or some 30% of the insured losses from the 2017 hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria; $9.2 billion for the 2017-19 California wildfires and nearly 30% of the losses from 2005 hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma.
“With the frequency and severity of such devastating natural disasters expected to increase, adaption to climate change is urgent and ABIR is pleased to become a signatory to the IBHS principles.”
