Financial losses due to extreme weather events are increasing. Insurers, states, and the federal government are all part of an extensive insurance and recovery system in the United States. Homeowners, landlords, utilities, infrastructure managers, and others all absorb some portion of risk of loss due to extreme weather. This system is becoming financially unsustainable and unable to appropriately respond to the current risk landscape. The way to repair the system may appear to be a straightforward economic solution, but the range of responses in terms of how to share and mitigate risk are driven by a mix of business interests, policy, household economics, individual risk perception and tolerance, and shared community attitudes.

This webinar series will summarize the growing body of scientific research on these issues, examine it in the current context of escalating risk and increasing and compounding losses, and identify areas of further research as we discuss potential ways forward.

The first in the series will focus on households and homeowners, considering the insurance crisis for property owners, risk tolerance, what drives decisions about where people choose to live, and community dynamics that can help or hinder risk mitigation, adaptation, and disaster preparedness. The second webinar will focus on infrastructure and will explore the different and sometimes competing interests and incentives for utilities, insurers, and communities, given the need to better prepare for extreme weather events. We will examine questions like long-term preparedness for extreme weather and changing environmental conditions, funding and financing, and the impact of shared and differing narratives on these issues. The final webinar in the series will address insurance more broadly as a form of adaptation, and the limits to insurance in terms of spreading risk and risk reduction, its business model, and resilience for individuals and communities.