NU Online News Service, April 23, 2:20 p.m. EDT
A coalition of insurers and other groups announced a seven point plan they said could cut hurricane losses dramatically, if public officials and the private sector see to its adoption.
The blueprint of policy changes and common sense actions is supported by a group of insurers, public officials, risk experts, builders and conservation groups. They said it is aimed at reducing economic losses from future storms and rising sea levels by as much as half along the U.S. coastlines.
The coalition, which includes The Travelers Institute, created by The Travelers Companies, issued its "Resilient Coasts Blueprint," to identify critical steps to achieve this goal.
The recommendations include:
o Enabling planning for climate impacts by providing the necessary science and decision-making tools.
o Requiring risk-based land use planning.
o Designing adaptable infrastructure and building code standards to meet future risk.
o Strengthening ecosystems as part of a risk mitigation strategy.
o Developing flexible adaptation plans.
o Maintaining a viable private property and casualty insurance market.
o Integrating climate change impacts into due diligence for investment and lending.
"Our policymakers need to make wise and tough decisions, and this consensus blueprint provides an important roadmap for collaboration to address increasing hazards along our shores," said Deb Callahan, president of The Heinz Center, an environmental policy think-tank, in a statement.
"The Travelers Institute's support of the Resilient Coasts Initiative reflects its deep belief that loss mitigation, strong and well enforced building codes, and sensible land use planning are critical to reducing risk to life and property as well as to making private insurance more plentiful in coastal areas," said Joan Woodward, Travelers executive vice president of public policy.
She went on say that the project is the first to receive the support of Travelers institute, which was established to take part in public policy debates on matters of interest to the insurance industry.
Today's announcement noted a Wharton School study concluding that homeowners in Florida could reduce losses from a severe hurricane by 61 percent, resulting in $51 billion in savings, simply by building to strong construction codes.
South Carolina, New York and Texas would see savings of 44 percent, 39 percent and 34 percent, respectively with improved codes, according to the same study.
Similarly, the National Institute of Building Sciences study the coalition cited said that every dollar spent on mitigation saves society about four dollars on recovery costs. Despite this evidence, nearly all U.S. coastal cities and towns lack adequate land use requirements and building code standards to realize these savings, the group said.
Also cited was the experience of 500 commercial clients of the insurer FM Global, which experienced about 85 percent less damage from Hurricane Katrina as similarly situated properties. The reduced losses were directly the result of building retrofits and other hurricane loss prevention and preparedness measures taken by the insurer's policyholders.
A $2.5 million investment in loss prevention resulted in $500 million in avoided losses, the group said.
The coalition said its work comes as debate is intensifying in Congress over climate adaptation, referencing a draft climate and energy bill in Congress that would require states and federal agencies to develop climate adaptation plans, create dedicated funds for ecosystem adaptation efforts and establish a National Climate Service to create climate data and adaptation support tools for local governments.
© Arc, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to TMSalesOperations@arc-network.com. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.