The terrible fires in California are yet another example of the destruction caused by fossil-fuel-driven climate change. These fires are likely to become more common with hotter, drier conditions created by rising temperatures. The cost of the damage is eye-watering, estimated at more than $250bn (LA residents receive short reprieve from Santa Ana winds fanning deadly flames, 15 January).
In recent years many insurers have stopped offering fire insurance in California, such is the risk and cost of these events, with a number of companies pushed to the verge of insolvency even before the latest round. This example exposes how insurance is no solution to dealing with the impacts of climate change. Yet it is exactly this model that rich countries such as the US are pushing as a solution to climate‑change-induced loss and damage in poorer countries.
