The Uninsurables

Is it just me or did February absolutely fly by? Despite getting an extra day, I felt like I was rushing to get through even half of my to-do list. Hence the lack of blog posts this month, and the fact that this one is on the paltry end of the spectrum. Forgive me, I have a full time job.?

One thing that has been a real Baader-Meinhof phenomenon for me these past few weeks (i.e. that thing where you start noticing the same thing over and over again once you’re made aware of it. I had to look up the name, I’m not that clever) is home insurance. Specifically, the rising cost of it due to the changing climate.

Last summer, PwC reported that risk cover for some homes would become “unaffordable or unavailable for home owners in the worst affected areas” which will experience more extreme heat. Then, at the start of the year, PwC was back again, confirming that home insurance could increase by up to 20% next year, in order to cover the rising cost of claims due to increasing storms, flooding and other climate change related weather events.?

And now, two weeks ago, the FT published a ‘Big Read’ on the topic: The uninsurable world: what climate change is costing homeowners, connecting the impact of weather events on insurance claims.?

If you can get access to the FT, I recommend reading the whole article, lots of fascinating nuggets in there.?

We’ve breached the 1.5 degree warming threshold, and it feels every day more true that climate change is real, it’s happening, we’re living through it, and we’re still not doing enough. I shouldn’t really use the collective ‘we’, because many of us are doing enough, it’s actually just a small group of people that are actively damaging the planet: fossil fuel executives that decide not to transition their business to renewables, financiers that choose to keep investing in fossil fuels, and politicians that choose to keep subsidising fossil fuels. I’m oversimplifying, but those people are like 99% responsible.

There’s much more thinking I have on this topic, including: how this will trickle down to regulation in the built environment (despite the UK government pulling back on energy efficiency policies, surely they will make us all pay for this eventually); how much more InsurTech/FinTech solutions will emerge to help mitigate the ballooning physical risk; and what on earth are we going to do to all the billions of buildings that need to adapt to the climate reality.?

Let me know if you have any thoughts!

?? News Roundup

?? The Good Law Project has initiated a legal challenge against the UK Government's proposed restrictions on local councils enhancing energy efficiency standards.

?? CRETech has launched the CREtech Climate Venture Coalition, a collaboration of leading VCs in the Built World to decarbonise the built environment.

?? Great article from Thesis Driven on the office “shortage”.

?? Last Week in Contech is an amazing resource for ConTech/decarbonising the built environment news.