Weather Related Insurance Losses in North America Have Jumped

Just a week and a half before Hurricane Sandy struck the eastern seaboard, a report by one of the world’s leading reinsurers warned of increasing costs of man-made climate change. Costs in North America have jumped significantly. Munich Re insures insurance companies. Climate Central has more on Munich Re’s report:

North America has seen the world’s sharpest increase in the number of natural catastrophes during the past 32 years, a trend that in some respects is linked to manmade global warming, according to a report released Wednesday from the global reinsurance giant Munich Re. The study, which has not undergone scientific peer review, examined natural disaster losses between 1980 and 2011, finding that weather-related loss events in North America “nearly quintupled” during the period, compared to just an increase factor of two in Europe, for example.

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