Roughly 850,000 homes — nearly one in 10 — could be “uninsurable” within a few generations unless there are fundamental changes to where and how properties are built, a leading climate analyst says.
The warning comes as separate data, published by the Actuaries Institute, reveals the frequency of extreme weather in the country’s worst-affected regions has doubled compared to the long-term average.
Karl Sullivan, general manager of policy risk and disaster for the Insurance Council of Australia said the data will “help the underwriting side of the industry have a better, sharper discussion about what that future might look like.”
But the insurance industry is already on the brink of “dangerous market failure”, according to Karl Mallon, director of science and systems at climate analytics company Climate Risk.
“If the industry doesn’t step up, we’ll all pay — both as taxpayers picking up the bill for the recovery … or because of the impact on our communities and our economies,” says Dr Mallon.
“This is a cost that is avoidable and we shouldn’t be walking into this but we are. We absolutely are.”
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