Climate Change: Legal, Insurance & Contracting Practices-Climate Change Legal, Insurance & Contracting Practices Recording

Video Transcription

Video Summary

This webinar, part of the online series from the book <em>Climate Change and the Built Environment</em>, features experts discussing legal, insurance, and contracting issues related to climate change adaptation. Nancy Rigasio from AXA XL explains catastrophe modeling used by insurers to assess risks from natural disasters intensified by climate change, such as hurricanes and floods. She highlights how models have evolved following significant events like Hurricanes Andrew, Katrina, and Sandy, noting that models must integrate future climate conditions, mitigation, and adaptation efforts. Stephanie Krull focuses on governance and regulation, emphasizing that existing laws often rely on static climate assumptions, underestimating current and future risks like sea level rise and increased flooding. She advocates for incremental regulatory changes and improved governance capabilities, suggesting watershed-scale governance to integrate land use, water management, and climate adaptation more effectively. Karen Holland presents findings from a survey of infrastructure asset owners, revealing that prioritizing assets, conducting vulnerability assessments, and fostering resilience strategies are gaining importance, though barriers such as limited funding, regulatory uncertainty, siloed departments, and political resistance persist. Lastly, Patricia Gary addresses the evolving legal standard of care for design professionals amid climate challenges, warning against contract terms that elevate care standards or impose uninsurable warranties. She advises careful contract language to align with professional liability policies, avoiding guarantees that exceed negligence-based coverage. Panelists discuss shifts over the past decade, stressing the need for proactive resilience planning beyond minimum codes, collaborative governance, and adapting to climate realities with updated data and peer learning. The session underscores the complexity of integrating climate adaptation into built environments through informed, flexible regulation, risk management, and legal frameworks.

Keywords

climate change adaptation

catastrophe modeling

insurance risk assessment

legal issues in climate adaptation

governance and regulation

sea level rise

flood risk

infrastructure resilience

vulnerability assessments

regulatory challenges

contract standards for design professionals

collaborative governance