Ceres Report – Futures for U.S. Property/Casualty Insurers: The
Growing Costs and Risks of Extreme Weather Events In September
2012, Ceres published a report discussing the effects that the
increasing number and severity of storms are having on insurance
providers, consumers and the broader economy in the United
States. Drought, fires, hurricanes, flooding and winter storms
are all key discussion topics. In 2011, insured damage costs
totaled $44 billion, the second highest only to those from 2005
when hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma occurred, causing
insured damage costs to total $60 billion (pg 10). Below is a
graph from the report which represents the natural disaster
trends in the United States, showing that the number of events
has generally been increasing since 1980. Increasing numbers and
costs of insurance claims are affecting property/casualty
insurers by decreasing earnings and investment on the insurance
companies. Because of this, many insurance companies have
already began climate change risk