Climate Change Resulting in Record Insurance Payouts

Munich Re, the German insurance giant, has warned that natural disasters resulting from climate change are increasing in frequency resulting in record insurance claims. 2008, adjusted for inflation, was the third most expensive year on record, exceeded only by 2005, the year of Hurricane Katrina, and by 1995, the year of the Kobe earthquake. The group said the UN climate summit in Copenhagen this December needed to half the output of greenhouse gases by 2050. Some critics warn that the insurance industry is lobbying hard on climate change to prepare the way for government bailouts in the event of exceptionally costly catastrophes instead of, for example, redirecting investment towards cleaner businesses and away from fossil fuels.  Read more at NY Times