Home Insurance claims increase due to climate change
The government has welcomed an insurance industry report that says climate change could treble claims for storm and flood damages by 2050.
The report by the Association of British Insurers says that weather-related claims on property insurance doubled to more than £6bn between 1998 to 2003, compared with the previous five years. It predicts that claims could treble over the next 45 years.
Environment Minister, Elliot Morley, said the effects of climate change over the next few decades are unavoidable.
'In the UK, we are likely to experience hotter, drier summers and warmer, wetter winters, and weather extremes like the hot summer of 2003 or the heavy rain leading to the floods in 2000 may become more common.'
Government action includes:
* a £100m rise in annual spending on flood defences and the development of a 20 year strategy for managing floods
* adopting the Kyoto Protocol in 2002
* a commitment to reducing carbon dioxide emissions by more than half by 2050
Mr Morley also said that while the government can take action to minimise the effects of heatwaves and storms, 'we need to tackle - via international agreement - the causes of climate change.
Home Insurance claims increase due to climate change
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