Climate change creates insurance woes

-October 11, 2023 –

Good morning. It’s been a cool few weeks in Coastal Georgia, giving hope to all of us who long for an early end to hurricane season. But we’re still turning our attention today to a hurricane-related story: how climate change is affecting insurance markets. We’ll also look at climate change from the Pope’s point of view and hear about yet another delay for the Plant Vogtle nuclear expansion. And if you’re looking for environment-related activities, we have a roundup of upcoming lectures and conferences. Let’s go!

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Climate change challenges insurance

Climate change is destabilizing the insurance market worldwide, writes Grist’s Lois Parshley. She traces the beginning of the breakdown to 1992’s Hurricane Andrew, which shocked the insurance world with its $15 billion worth of insured damages in Florida. It’s been downhill from there. “Insured losses from natural disasters in the U.S. now routinely approach $100 billion a year, compared to $4.6 billion in 2000,” Parshley writes.

Insurance premiums are escalating to keep pace, making them difficult for homeowners to afford. Even insurance companies can’t always afford the insurance they need, called reinsurance, prompting pull outs from the riskiest states, like California and Florida.

And although insurers understand the perils of climate change, they continue to profit from providing the insurance that allows fossil fuel companies to operate. Oil and gas is a large part of many companies’ business, an apparent contradiction that Congress is beginning to investigate.

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Vogtle delayed again

The discovery last week of a malfunctioning coolant pump at the second of two new nuclear reactors being built at Plant Vogtle forced the latest delay in long overdue and over-budget project, as Dave Williams of Capitol Beat reports. Georgia Power called the issue an “isolated event,” but it’s expected to push back the completion of the unit into next year, according to its filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Vogtle’s Unit 4 was initially scheduled to begin operation in 2017.

Georgia Power also appears to be planning for even more generating capacity than previously anticipated, reports Drew Kann in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The company published a “request for information” on its website, inviting respondents to submit details about electricity generating assets they could provide to meet “greater capacity needs.” Public Service Commission Candidate Patty Durand criticized the announcement on social media, saying Georgia’s grid is already overbuilt and that Georgia Power has overestimated its required reserve capacity for two decades.

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The Pope speaks on climate

Pope Francis has climate change on his mind. Last week on the feast of his namesake, St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals and the environment, the pontiff issued an addendum to his 2015 encyclical on the environment. The new installment, called “Laudate Deum” or “Praise God,” “links environmental problems with economic, social and technological issues,” University of California at Santa Barbara Professor Lisa H. Sideris writes in The Conversation.

“(T)he new document strongly reproaches wealthy nations that contribute the most to climate change, accusing them of ignoring the plight of the poor. It offers a similar rebuke of rampant individualism, lamenting that responses to global crises of climate change and the pandemic have led to ‘greater individualism’ and hoarding of wealth, rather than increased solidarity.”

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Yellow school buses go green

Ten new electric school buses are scheduled to hit the road today in Long County. The EPA Clean School Bus Initiative delivered the buses and charging stations at no cost to the school system, saving it $3.95 million, Long County Schools reported on Facebook. Charlton and Chatham counties have received four and 25 electric buses respectively from the same program.

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Upcoming conferences, lectures

Learn more about the coastal environment with these upcoming events:

• The South Atlantic Salt Marsh Initiative (SASMI) Plan celebration will bring together community stakeholders to learn about this initiative to ensure the resilience of 1 million acres of salt marsh in the Southeast and to foster protection of Georgia’s coastal marshlands. Presentations by SASMI partners will be followed by an open house where attendees can learn more about SASMI and network with those in attendance. The event will from 4-6 p.m. October 17 at the Andrews Center at the Coastal Georgia Botanical Gardens at the Historic Bamboo Farm, 2 Canebrake Rd, Savannah. Space at the facility is limited, so registration is requested.

• The nonprofit  One Hundred Miles (OHM), will host its annual conference, Choosing to Lead, on Saturday, October 21, 2023, at the Jekyll Island Convention Center. Registration rates for the day-long conference, including lunch, are $100 for members, $125 for non-members, and $40 for students. Registration and more information is available at onehundredmiles.org/conference.

• The nonprofit Center for a Sustainable Coast is hosting a free public forum on climate, energy policy and emissions reduction from 5-7 p.m. Oct. 27 at the Coastal Georgia Center, 305 Fahm Street, Savannah. The guest speaker is Patty Durand, founder of Cool Planet Solutions and a candidate for Georgia’s Public Service Commission.

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If you have feedback, questions, concerns, or just like what you see, let us know at thecurrentga@gmail.com.

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