'Risks aren't worth it': QBE says parts of planet becoming uninsurable due to climate concerns
Global insurance giant QBE has warned climate change poses a material threat to its business and the entire economy as its chief executive Pat Regan said premiums were at risk of becoming too high in areas exposed to repeated, extreme weather.
Mr Regan said there had always been parts of the world that were difficult to insure. But as floods and fires become have dominated headlines this summer, this risk was increasing across "swathes of Australia" and could potentially price out customers from home and business property insurance.He said climate change was a "big topic" in the sector, requiring the insurance giant to "up its game on a number of fronts". QBE boosted its reinsurance program for catastrophic events to $2 billion in a process that would be reassessed each year, he said.
"What that means is you could have a one-in-200-year storm and we'd be protected," Mr Regan said.
"Whatever your more broad thoughts on climate change are, the evidence is clearly there that the frequency and severity of weather events is increasing over time," he added.
"The evidence is there for all to see that the amount of weather events globally, not just in Australia, is consistently rising and most of the worst years on record have happened in the last 10 years."
"The most prone ones [areas] are the ones we see in the news frequently," Mr Regan said, referencing the Queensland floods and east coast fires.
disallowed/business/banking-and-finance/qbe-warns-of-climate-risk-as-300m-hit-to-revenue-alongside-unusual-weather-20200217-p541e3.html
Will Australia copy the kiwi's with their earth quake scheme?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthquake_Commission
Raider
