Main content

Can we rely on insurance to help rebuild after extreme weather?

Australia has been hit by one of its worst flood disasters. Can insurance help people there recover?

Scientists say extreme weather is intensifying and becoming more frequent because of climate change and the impacts are causing huge losses.

People living in Brisbane and other parts of eastern Australia dealt with those impacts recently, when heavy rain fell for days - destroying thousands of homes and at least 22 people are known to have died.

Authorities declared it a once in a-100-year-event, making it the second disaster of its kind in the same area in just 11 years. While insurers face losses trying to cover it all, reinsurers say climate change is now a number one risk.

We talk to residents in Brisbane as they clean up after the floods and ask if insurance can be the world’s safety net as the impacts of climate change intensify?

Presenters Jordan Dunbar and Kate Lamble are joined by:

Ernst Rauch, chief geo and climate scientist, Munich Re
Robin McConchie, reporter based in Brisbane.
Ekerete Olawoye Gam-Ikon, insurance strategy consultant
Maryam Golnaraghi, director, climate change and environment, the Geneva Association

Producer: Darin Graham
Reporter: Robin McConchie
Researchers: Lizzie Frisby, Frances Read, Natasha Fernandes, Perisha Kudhail
Series producer: Alex Lewis
Editor: Nicola Addyman
Sound engineer: Tom Brignell

Available now

28 minutes

Last on

Mon 21 Mar 2022 21:06GMT

Broadcasts

  • Mon 21 Mar 2022 02:32GMT
  • Mon 21 Mar 2022 08:06GMT
  • Mon 21 Mar 2022 13:32GMT
  • Mon 21 Mar 2022 20:06GMT
  • Mon 21 Mar 2022 21:06GMT

Podcast