THE global cost of catastrophic weather events will soar to $27 billion (£15 billion) a year by 2080 if world leaders do not address climate change, insurers will reveal today.
Homeowners will see the cost of cover rise by as much as 60 per cent as insurers struggle to obtain sufficient capital to protect themselves against the spiralling cost of hurricanes, typhoons and windstorms, the Association of British Insurers (ABI) will say.
Nick Starling, director of general insurance at the ABI, will say that if carbon dioxide emissions were prevented from doubling within the next 100 years, as they are expected to do, these costs could be slashed.
“Decision-makers in government and elsewhere have a real opportunity to make rational choices for the future,” Mr Starling will say.
The ABI will reveal its research to delegates from 20 countries, including the United States, China and Australia, at its climate change conference today. Margaret Beckett, the Environment Secretary, will be presented with the study at the conference, just a week before world leaders gather in Edinburgh at the annual meeting of the G8 countries.
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The research, based on scenarios set out by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, shows the potential cost of the world’s most catastrophic weather events in both normal and extreme insurance loss years. In an extreme loss year, such as last year, America’s hurricane season cost insurers $30 billion, but this could rise to $150 billion by 2080.