Insurance companies should reward sustainability
By Hans Nilsson / Published on Tue, 2006-10-10 05:30In a recent conference in German Council for a Sustainable Development there were voices raised that the insurance companies should be more involved. This makes sense in two ways, the local and the global . If buildings and processes are made more energy efficient it seems likely that losses are reduced and could even have such direct effects as preventing e.g. fire hazards. It would also be likely that someone that has a better control of energy efficiency and make use of renewable locally available fuels have hedged himself better against some price risks. Such risk reductions should naturally be rewarded with risk premiums. Globally such actions reduce the risks of climate change and the associated hazards which should also be rewarded though it may be harder to calculate the premium.
There is however a recent study "From Risk to Opportunity" that gives concrete examples on how insurance companies could act. This reports that insurer-initiated hurricane-loss prevention methods saved 500 MUSD in Hurricane Katrina and cost 2.5 MUSD to install. The following figure shows that risks from winter storms in Europe are not negliable though these may not be of hurricane-strength.

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sustainable video channels
By stevelake / Published on Tue, 2006-10-10 23:28 To watch and listen to an exclusive half-hour video interview with Huntington Beach, California, City Councilmember Debbie Cook talking about energy policy and the October 26-27 ASPO-USA conference in Boston, go to: http://etopiamedia.net/empnn/pages/cpt-emnn/cpt-emnn662-5551212.html To directly access this interview, go to: http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid245988617 To embed this player in your own web page, use this code: Links and embedding code for five Etopia News environmentally-related Brightcove Players: Energy Policy Channel http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid245988617 Peak Oil/Global Warming Channel http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid187832478 Sustainable Cities Channel http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid187832490 Electric Sunshine Channel http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid212342382 Sustainable Transportation Channel http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid219475134Reply