Wrong, NYT, Rising Insurance Costs Do NOT Prove There’s a Climate Catastrophe
By Linnea Lueken -May 12, 20231
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The New York Times (NYT) posted an op-ed titled “Your Homeowners’ Insurance Bill Is the Canary in the Climate Coal Mine,” claiming that rising insurance costs are proof that climate change is a growing danger, and that all insured should not have to pay for those who choose to live in riskier areas like the Florida coast or southwestern deserts. Although it would be sound policy to not have all insured persons, or as is more often the case, taxpayers, cover the cost of premiums and losses for homeowners and businesses who choose to live in areas prone to natural disasters, there is no evidence climate change is making extreme weather events worse.
Writing on the increasing costs of insurance and attributing potential home value loss to climate change, Benjamin Keys writes, “[a]fter recent years of paying out claims for about 20 disasters a year with damages of over $1 billion, a sixfold increase from the 1980s, insurers are getting serious about new pricing models that incorporate the costs of a warming climate.”
Keys uses Phoenix, Arizona as an example, citing the idea that climate scientists claim it is forecasted “to endure 132 days each year with temperatures of over 100 degrees.” Keys describes the low water levels in Lake Mead, and goes on to point out the obvious, that “living in Phoenix requires energy-intensive amenities like air conditioning,” then suggests that air conditioning use itself contributes to the problem of global warming. Finally, he mentions that despite all these threats, home prices in Phoenix have risen 53 percent.
https://climaterealism.com/2023/05/wrong-nyt-rising-insurance-costs-do-not-prove-theres-a-climate-catastrophe/
