Jared Seyl, Farmers Insurance district manager for Denver, has vast experience with insuring properties against all sorts of natural disasters. He has worked with companies and individuals that were affected by incidents such as the 2013 Colorado floods, the ice storms of early 2017, and the 2011 Colorado earthquake. While Colorado normally experiences blizzards each winter, their frequency and severity have escalated in recent years, with a March 2019 “bomb cyclone” leaving thousands stranded and without electricity.
Scientists generally agree that these patterns of extreme weather, ranging from long droughts and heat waves reaching up to 110 degrees to crippling snowstorms, are the result of climate range. Jared Seyl and Farmers Insurance have made it a point to educate homeowners and other property owners of the increased risks associated with these shifting weather trends. Because the likelihood of being affected by a blizzard is higher in Colorado than in other areas, insurance rates there tend to be a bit higher.
In addition, Jared Seyl and Farmers Insurance are looking at climate change as one of their core business issues. They realize that the old business model of using annually-adjusted risk models that use historical data might not be the best way to deal with unpredictable weather patterns. Instead, forward-looking insurers are now utilizing climatologists, statisticians, and Big Data practitioners to constantly update their risk models.
As the planet keeps getting warmer, Jared Seyl and Farmers Insurance expect insurance premiums to continue climbing up unless concrete progress is made towards reversing the global climate change trend. For its part, Farmers’ parent company has decided to divest from equity holdings in companies that mine coal or use it to generate power and to lower carbon emissions and energy consumption by at least 20 percent – proof that the insurance industry should lead the way in reducing the effects of climate change.
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