Insurance, housing and climate adaptation: Current knowledge and future research

Insurance, housing    
Are hard climate change issues    
Let’s research and talk    

Climate change will inevitably threaten New Zealand’s coastal housing, but the exact nature of that threat will depend on the insurance options available. This note discusses how insurance will adapt to a changing climate. New Zealand’s current insurance institutions are surveyed; these are sufficiently unusual to limit the applicability of the international literature. Issues with the provision of climate-sensitive insurance – particularly with its pricing – are discussed, as are relationships between insurance markets and financial markets. Possible policy responses are suggested. The note concludes by proposing high-priority questions for future research.