It was a very wet summer in much of England. Floods in central and western parts of the country, the worst in decades, resulted in widespread misery: around 60,000 homes and businesses were damaged or destroyed. Insurers, which are facing at least £3 billion ($6.1 billion) in claims, have said they expect household premiums to rise next year. Amid the long process of drying out and sorting through claims, a group of leading insurers gathered in London on Thursday September 13th to unveil a joint initiative to address climate change. Hailing what it called ‘a new era’ in industry action to deal with the issue, the Association of British Insurers (ABI) put forth a series of principles-ranging from greater engagement in public-policy making to incorporating climate change in members’ investment strategies-that it dubbed ClimateWise. The goals are worthy, but the likely impact of the plan remains to be seen. The complexity and global nature of climate change calls for long-term, broad-based solutions. Aside from the victims themselves, the insurance industry is among the first to feel the after effects of extreme weather. It is no surprise, then, that some of the biggest names in the business-firms such as […]