Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-g7gxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-06T09:05:41.501Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Insurance models and climate risk assessments in a historical context

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 July 2016

Lars Fredrik Andersson  and
E. Carina H. Keskitalo
Lars Fredrik Andersson*
Affiliation:
Umeå University
E. Carina H. Keskitalo*
Affiliation:
Umeå University
*
L. F. Andersson, corresponding author: email: [email protected]; E. C. H. Keskitalo, email: [email protected]; Department of Geography and Economic History, Umeå University, Samhällsvetarhuset, SE 901 87, Umeå, Sweden.
L. F. Andersson, corresponding author: email: [email protected]; E. C. H. Keskitalo, email: [email protected]; Department of Geography and Economic History, Umeå University, Samhällsvetarhuset, SE 901 87, Umeå, Sweden.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Adaptation to the consequences of climate change has developed into a growing field of concern for the insurance business. However, climate-related risk is not entirely a new field in insurance. Historically, a large number of insurance organisational choices and strategies have been used to mitigate the financial impact of extreme events and uncertainties associated with climate change. Taking the case of forests in Sweden, this article reviews the ways in which climate-related risks such as storm/wind and fire risks have been assured. The study shows that climate-related risks have generally increased over time and that major hazard events have been decisive for strategy and organisation choices. Twentieth-century developments show that corporate insurance coverage increased due to higher levels of anticipated risk, while self-insurance and public insurance were reduced. However, in more recent times the expansion of corporate insurance has stagnated. Increased premiums and tighter terms following historically extreme weather events have led government and forest owners to assume more climate risks.

Keywords

insuranceforest fireclimate changeadaptationforest

JEL classification

N24: Europe: 1913– G22: Insurance • Insurance Companies • Actuarial Studies
Type
Articles
Information
Financial History Review , Volume 23 , Issue 2 , August 2016 , pp. 219 - 243
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © European Association for Banking and Financial History e.V. 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adams, M., Lindmark, M. and Andersson, L. F. (2006). The evolution and development of the Swedish insurance industry. Accounting, Business and Financial History, 16 (3), pp. 341–70.Google Scholar
Adams, M., Andersson, L. F., Lindmark, M. and Veprauskaite, E. (2012). Competing models of organizational form: risk management strategies and underwriting profitability in the Swedish fire insurance market between 1903 and 1939. Journal of Economic history, 72 (4), pp. 990–1014.Google Scholar
Arpi, G. (1959). Sveriges skogar under 100 år D. 1:en sammanfattande redogörelse över det svenska skogsbruket 1859–1959. Stockholm: Kungl. Domänstyrelsen.Google Scholar
Björklund, J. (1984). From the Gulf of Bothnia to the White Sea. Scandinavian Economic History Review, 1, pp. 17–41.Google Scholar
Blennow, K. (2008). Risk management in Swedish forestry – policy formation and fulfilment of goals. Journal of Risk Research, 11 (1–2), pp. 237–54.Google Scholar
Botzen, W. J. W. and van der Bergh, J. C. J. M. (2008). Insurance against climate change and flooding in the Netherlands: present, future and comparison with other countries. Risk Analysis, 28 (2), pp. 413–26.Google Scholar
Botzen, W. J. W., van der Bergh, J. C. J. M. and Bouwer, L. M. (2010). Climate change and increased risk for the insurance sector: a global perspective and an assessment for the Netherlands. Natural Hazards, 52, pp. 577–98.Google Scholar
Brunette, M., Holecy, J., Sedliak, M., Tucek, J. and Hanewinkel, M. (2015). An actuarial model of forest insurance against multiple natural hazards in fir stands in Slovakia. Forest Policy and Management, 55, pp. 46–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Defra (2011). Flood risk and insurance: a roadmap to 2013. Final report of the flood insurance working groups, December 2011. Policy paper. London: UK Government Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.Google Scholar
Duus-Otterström, G. and Jagers, S. (2011). Why (most) climate insurance schemes are a bad idea. Environmental Politics, 20, pp. 322–39.Google Scholar
Enander, K.-G. (2000). Skogsvårdslagen 1903 – dess förhistoria och några huvuddrag i utvecklingen. Report 46. Umeå: Department of Silviculture, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.Google Scholar
European Forest Institute (EFI) (2013). Database. www.efi.int/portal/virtual_library/databases/ Google Scholar
FAO (2015). Global Forest Resources Assessment 2015: How Are the World's Forest Changing? Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.Google Scholar
Ford, J. D. and Furgal, C. (2009). Foreword to the special issue: climate change impacts, adaptation and vulnerability in the Arctic. Polar Research, 28 (1), pp. 1–9.Google Scholar
Försäkringsföreningen (1969). Svensk försäkrings årsbok. Stockholm: Svenska försäkringsföreningen.Google Scholar
Försäkringsföreningens tidskrift (various years).Google Scholar
Försäkringsinspektionen (1940–83). Enskilda försäkringsanstalter. Stockholm: Försäkringsinspektionen.Google Scholar
Försvarsdepartementet (2007). Ersättningssystem i samverkan – hantering av kommunernas kostnader I samband med naturkatastrofer m m. Ds 2007:51.Google Scholar
Gjallarhornet: Nordisk försäkringstidning (various years).Google Scholar
Glaas, E., Hjerpe, M. and Keskitalo, E. C. H. (2016). Managing climate change adaptation within the Nordic insurance sector: the influence of the policy and market environment. MS.Google Scholar
Hecht, S. B. (2008). Climate change and the transformation of risk: insurance matters. UCLA Law Review, 55, pp. 1559–620.Google Scholar
Holmberg, L-.E. (2005). Sammanställning av stormskador på skog i Sverige under de senaste 210 åren. Rapport 9. Jönköping: Skogsstyrelsen.Google Scholar
Ingemarson, F. (2007). Hur drabbades enskilda skogsägare av stormen Gudrun? Resultat av en enkätundersöknin. Jönköping: Skogsstyrelsen.Google Scholar
Jo (1969). Storm- och snöskador på skog, betänkande angivet av 1968 års stormskadeberedning. Stockholm: Jordbruksdepartementet, Ds 1969:3.Google Scholar
Keskitalo, E. C. H. (2008). Vulnerability and adaptive capacity in forestry in northern Europe: a Swedish case study. Climatic Change, 87, pp. 219–34.Google Scholar
Keskitalo, E. C. H. (2010). The Development of Adaptation Policy and Practice in Europe: Multi-level Governance of Climate Change. Dordrecht: Springer.Google Scholar
Keskitalo, E. C. H., Vulturius, G. and Scholten, P. (2014). Adaptation to climate change in the insurance sector: examples from the UK, Germany and the Netherlands. Natural Hazards, 71, pp. 315–34Google Scholar
Länsförsäkringar (2013). Comments on average premium rates.Google Scholar
LRF (2014). Skogsförsäkring, allriskförsäkring, LRF and IF.Google Scholar
Mahul, O. and Stutley, C. J. (2010). Agricultural Insurance: Challenges and Options for Developing Countries. Washington, DC: World Bank Publications.Google Scholar
Mills, E. (2005). Insurance in a climate of change. Science, 309 (5737), pp. 1040–4.Google Scholar
Mills, E. (2009). A global review of insurance industry responses to climate change. The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance: Issues and Practice, 34 (3), pp. 323–59.Google Scholar
Myndigheten för Samhällsskydd Och Beredskap (MSB) (2010). Förslag till ett sammanhängande system för ersättningar till kommuner. Regeringsuppdrag dnr 2010–4292.Google Scholar
Myndigheten för Samhällsskydd Och Beredskap (MSB) (2013). Rapportering av bränder.Google Scholar
Nasreen, R. (2009). Insurance and Risk Management. Lucknow: Word-Press.Google Scholar
Niklasson, M. and Drakenberg, B. (2001). A 600-year tree-ring fire history from Norra Kvills National Park, southern Sweden: implications for conservation strategies in the hemiboreal zone. Biological Conservation, 101(1), pp. 63–71.Google Scholar
Niklasson, M. and Granström, A. (2000). Numbers and sizes of fires: long-term spatially explicit fire history in a Swedish boreal landscape. Ecology, 81 (6), pp. 1484–99.Google Scholar
Nilsson, C., Stjernquist, I., Bärring, L., Schlyter, P., Jönsson, A. M. and Samuelsson, H. (2004). Recorded storm damage in Swedish forests 1901–2000. Forest Ecology and Management, 199, pp. 165–73.Google Scholar
Nordlund, A. and Westin, K. (2011). Forest values and forest management attitudes among private forest owners in Sweden. Forests, 2, pp. 30–50.Google Scholar
Östlund, L. (1993). Exploitation and structural change in the north Swedish boreal forest 1800–1992. PhD thesis, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Umeå.Google Scholar
Pearson, R. (1995). The development of reinsurance markets in Europe during the nineteenth century. Journal of European Economic History, 24 (4), pp. 557–71.Google Scholar
Phelan, L. (2011). Managing climate risk: extreme weather events and the future of insurance in a climate-changed world. Australasian Journal of Environmental Management, 18 (4), pp. 223–32.Google Scholar
Porrini, D. and Schwarze, R. (2014). Insurance models and European climate change policies: an assessment. European Journal of Law and Economics, 38 (1), pp. 7–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schelhaas, M.-J. (2008). Impacts of natural disturbances on the development of European forest resources: application of model approaches from tree and stand levels to large-scale scenarios. PhD thesis, University of Joensuu.Google Scholar
Schön, L. (2012). En modern svensk ekonomisk historia: tillväxt och omvandling under två sekel. Stockholm: SNS förlag.Google Scholar
Schwarze, R., Schwindt, M., Weck-Hannemann, H., Raschky, P., Zahn, F. and Wagner, G. G., (2011). Natural hazard insurance in Europe: tailored responses to climate change are needed. Environmental Policy and Governance, 21 (1), pp. 14–30.Google Scholar
Siiskonen, H. (2013). From economic to environmental sustainability: the forest management debate in 20th century Finland and Sweden. Environment, Development and Sustainability, 15, pp. 1323–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Skogen (1931, 1954, 2007, 2008). Stockholm: Föreningen Skogen.Google Scholar
Skogsstyrelsen (1942). Det enskilda skogsbruket år 1940 (Sveriges officiella statistik: Skogshushållning). Stockholm.Google Scholar
Skogsstyrelsen (1950). Det enskilda skogsbruket år 1948 (Sveriges officiella statistik: Skogshushållning). Stockholm.Google Scholar
Skogsstyrelsen (1960). Skogsstatistisk årsbok 1958 (Sveriges officiella statistik: Skogshushållning). Stockholm.Google Scholar
Skogsstyrelsen (1968). Skogsstatistisk årsbok 1966 (Sveriges officiella statistik: Skogshushållning). Stockholm.Google Scholar
Skogsstyrelsen (1970). Skogsstatistisk årsbok 1968 (Sveriges officiella statistik: Skogshushållning). Stockholm.Google Scholar
Skogsstyrelsen (1979). Skogsstatistisk årsbok 1977 (Sveriges officiella statistik: Skogshushållning). Stockholm.Google Scholar
Skogsstyrelsen (1993). Skogsstatistisk årsbok 1993 (Sveriges officiella statistik: Skogshushållning). Stockholm.Google Scholar
Skogsstyrelsen (2006). Efter Gudrun: erfarenheter av stormen och rekommendationer för framtiden. Jönköping: Skogsstyrelsen.Google Scholar
Skogsstyrelsen (2010). Skogsstatistisk årsbok 2010 (Sveriges officiella statistik: Skogshushållning). Stockholm.Google Scholar
Skogsstyrelsen (2013). Skogsstatistik årsbok 2013 (Sveriges officiella statistik: Skogshushållning). Stockholm.Google Scholar
Smit, B. and Wandel, J. (2006). Adaptation, adaptive capacity and vulnerability. Global Environmental Change, 16 (3), 282–92.Google Scholar
Statens Offentliga Utredningar (2012). [SOU 2012:29]. Sveriges möjligheter att ta emot internationellt stöd vid kriser eller allvarliga händelser i fredstid. Stockholm.Google Scholar
Stjernquist, P. (2001) Ordergivare eller rådgivare. Om skogsvårdsstyrelsernas strategi fram till 1990. In Ekelund, H. and Hamilton, G. (eds.), Skogspolitisk historia, report no. 8A. Jönköping: Skogsstyrelsen.Google Scholar
Sturm, T. and Oh, E. (2010). Natural disasters at the end of the insurance industry? Scalar competitive strategies, alternative risk transfers, and the economic crisis. Geoforum, 41, pp. 154–63.Google Scholar
Surminski, S. (2009). Risk prevention and flood insurance in the UK: ensuring availability in the face of risking climate risks. Paper presented at the conference on Climate Change: Global Risks, Challenges and Decisions, Copenhagen, 10–12 March 2009 (IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, 6).Google Scholar
Svenska Aktiebolag (1964). Aktieägarens uppslagsbok: ekonomisk handbok. Stockholm: Norstedt.Google Scholar
Svenska Försäkringsföreningen (1927–55). Försäkringsföreningens årsbok. Stockholm.Google Scholar
Svensson, S. A., Bohlin, F., Bäcke, J.-O., Hultåker, O., Ingemarson, F., Karlsson, S. and Malmhäll, J. (2011). Ekonomiska och sociala konsekvenser i skogsbruket av stormen Gudrun. Jönköping: Skogsstyrelsens förlag.Google Scholar
Sveriges Riksdag (1916). Bihang till Riksdagens Protokoll. Stockholm.Google Scholar
Sveriges Riksdag (1932). Bihang till Riksdagens Protokoll. Stockholm.Google Scholar
Sveriges Riksdag (1933). Bihang till Riksdagens Protokoll. Stockholm.Google Scholar
Törnquist, T. (1995). Skogsrikets arvingar: En sociologisk studie av skogsägarskapet inom privat, enskilt skogsbruk. Forskningsrapport 6. Uppsala: SAMU.Google Scholar
Vulturius, G. and Keskitalo, E. C. H. (2016). Drivers and challenges for climate change adaptation in the Swedish insurance sector. MS.Google Scholar