ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the contradictory positions of the insurance industry in the era of climate change. Although insurers were some of the earliest to sound the alarm about climate change, the contradictory positions held by the insurance industry compromise its potential to act as guardian of climate security. We outline the industry's roles in relation to climate change as compensator, resistor and mitigator, facilitator, and investor. Private insurers capitalise on climate risks by profiting from coverage of weather-related uncertainties, although risks driven by climate change that are too catastrophic may also threaten their balance sheets. Insurers are also experts on the risks of climate change and active in attempts to reduce, adapt to, and mitigate it, although these efforts are sometimes constrained and selectively focussed by the commercial imperative within the industry. On the other hand, the insurance industry also supports and facilitates fossil fuel industries in numerous ways, thus contributing to the same risks they are insuring and working against. Insurers are also some of the biggest investors in fossil fuel, further contributing to climate change. We conclude by briefly exploring what members of the public and policy makers might do in promoting action on global warming, given the insurance industry's contradictory roles.
