Insurers, After White House Meeting, Emerged Worried About More 'Extreme Weather' Events

Five insurance trade groups are promoting stronger building decisions to help counter a sharp rise in losses from extreme weather, prompted by a meeting on climate change between senior White House officials and industry leaders in June.

The groups, whose memberships represent a large share of U.S. insurance companies, released a position statement yesterday that expresses their concern about climbing damage from weather events like hurricanes, floods, downpours and wildfires.

It does not mention climate change explicitly, making some observers bristle, but instead emphasizes an ambitious transition toward damage prevention by improving land-use policies, strengthening building codes and funding stronger construction methods.  The statement's subtext takes aim at federal policies that the insurance industry has long said contribute to poor development decisions that increase losses.

"What we're talking about are extreme weather, adaptation, resilience, mitigation, climate-related issues -- whatever you'd like to call it," said Julie Rochman, president and CEO of the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety.  "The administration calls it climate change.  I think, from our perspective, it's really about weather events."

Insurers, After White House Meeting, Emerged Worried About More 'Extreme Weather' Events