Ontario needs strategy for dealing with increased insurance premiums arising from climate change: environment commissioner

The Ontario government has failed to outline a strategy to deal with the increasing costs of climate change, including the costs of increased insurance premiums, according to Gord Miller, Ontario’s environmental commissioner.

Miller released his report, Ready for Change? An Assessment of Ontario’s climate change adaptation strategy, in response to the Ministry of the Environment’s 2011 report, Climate Ready: Ontario’s Adaptation Strategy and Action Plan, 2011-2014.

“Many costs, such as adapting office buildings, factories and homes, and paying increased insurance premiums, will be borne by private businesses and individuals,” Miller wrote in his report. “The costs of adaptation will also present a significant challenge to the Ontario government, especially given the fiscal constraints it faces.”

The government will need to align its policies so that the insurance risks arising from the effects of climate change are properly apportioned between the public and private sectors, Miller wrote.

In order to finance Ontario’s public adaptation efforts, the government will need to re-align existing fiscal mechanisms and secure new sources of funding — for example, carbon pricing revenues — to create a significant pool of funds from which to draw for both mitigation and adaptation initiatives, according to Miller’s report.

“A wide range of policy tools will need to be employed, beyond traditional command and control measures. Among others, these could include fiscal policy, land use planning, public education and government subsidies.”

As the government moves forward with policy development and implementation under its climate change adaptation strategy, the environmental commissioner of Ontario will assess the degree to which the government is making use of the appropriate policy instruments, as well as the efficacy of the policy mix, in contributing to short- and long-term solutions across vulnerable sectors, Miller said.