Insurance Council chief executive Tim Grafton has shared his thoughts on the government’s climate change adaptation plan, expressing disappointment regarding the timeline of its implementation.
The Ministry for the Environment recently released a draft national adaptation plan that outlined different proposals to curb the effects of climate change in the country, including details on the development of legislation that won’t be introduced to Parliament until late 2023.
The legislation in question is to support plans for managed retreat, which will enable communities to relocate away from high-risk areas.
According to Grafton, the targeted date might be too far into the future, considering the cost and urgency of the climate change problem.
In an interview with Radio New Zealand, Grafton said that while the insurance industry is eager to contribute to addressing the climate crisis, insurers make up only one part of the solution, being able to accept risk without the ability to enact large-scale solutions.
He said that as insurers accept the risk of climate change by covering its costs for property owners, the central and local governments should enable climate change adaptation and assist with funding initiatives to mitigate the impact of climate change across the country.
Grafton said that there are currently no places in New Zealand where property owners are unable to get insurance coverage, but the affordability of premiums could be impacted by the growing frequency of extreme weather events as time goes on.
As such, he said that insurance providers would be “highly supportive” of managed retreat where appropriate.
“What we want to do is to continue to support people with insurance, and by removing them from harm's way that helps to do that, and also helps our customers to live in a safe way that puts them personally out of harm's way – not just the house that they're living in,” Grafton said.
