[✔️] Dec 27, 2023- Global Warming News Digest | Disruptive demos, Climate Defiance, Homeowners ins, Com property ins, 2008 Net zero tax

[Richard Pauli]

/*December 27*//*, 2023*/

/[ Shouting activists   "We are young, we are livid!"]/
*New breed of climate protesters vows to take fight to ‘cowards’ of US 
politics*
Climate Defiance, trying to make the climate crisis a top issue in 2024 
election, isn’t afraid to anger ‘cowards’ and ‘criminals’
Callum Jones in New York
Tue 26 Dec 2023
/    [ dramatic video] 
https://twitter.com/ClimateDefiance/status/1733244938660282572 "We're 
fucked because of you"/
A climate protest group backed by a cadre of Hollywood film-makers is 
preparing to take action against “cowards” and “criminals” of all 
political stripes as the 2024 election approaches.

Climate Defiance, which disrupted events featuring a string of Biden 
administration officials this year, and targeted Darren Woods, CEO of 
ExxonMobil, in December, will consider protesting at events staged by 
both Democrats and Republicans on the campaign trail after concluding 
that its “very disruptive” action was bearing fruit.

In an interview, Michael Greenberg, the group’s co-founder, told the 
Guardian it will also focus “more and more” on state-level 
demonstrations designed to deter policymakers from approving fossil fuel 
projects.

Since demonstrating outside the White House correspondents’ dinner in 
the spring, its activists have staged protests at events featuring a 
string of senior federal officials, including the transportation 
secretary, Pete Buttigieg, and the energy secretary, Jennifer Granholm.

    Climate Defiance
    @ClimateDefiance
    This is huge. This is absolutely monumental. We just shut down an
    event honoring Exxon CEO Darren Woods. The whole room fled. We
    showed up & prevented this monster from uttering a word. We will
    resist him with all we've got. There is no choice.

Climate Defiance has also interrupted two separate public appearances by 
the chair of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell. It is now recruiting 
for an organizing director to help coordinate “disruptive, nonviolent 
direct action to resist fossil fuel extraction”, according to a job 
advertisement.

“If we were a new group asking nicely, we’d be a random no-name group 
and the White House could just have conversations with groups a hundred 
times our size who did the same thing,” said Greenberg, 30. “Why would 
they talk to us?”

Instead, the group claims its demonstrations at high-profile events have 
got it a seat at the table. Ali Zaidi, the national climate adviser, has 
been on the phone. It also targeted David Turk, the deputy energy 
secretary, who invited Greenberg to a meeting days later.

“The reason they’re willing to meet with us is they know we are really 
intense and really strident,” said Greenberg. He said the fundamental 
goal of his group was to build the climate crisis into a top US 
political issue, “along with racial justice and kitchen table economic 
issues”.

The administration is taking note – and Climate Defiance is increasingly 
confident this interest can be traced all the way to the Oval Office. 
“Congressman Ro Khanna said that the president is talking about us,” 
Greenberg added.

A Department of Energy spokesperson said: “To solve the climate crisis, 
we must engage with a diverse variety of stakeholders. Candid, 
substantive and constructive discussions among states, local leaders and 
climate organizations can create paths to work together to address this 
existential crisis threatening humanity, create economic opportunity for 
our nations and save our planet.”

The Climate Emergency Fund, which has backed disruptive climate groups 
including Extinction Rebellion, has provided Climate Defiance with about 
$225,000 in funding. The group has received “roughly” the same amount 
from other donors, Greenberg said.

The fund’s directors include the film-makers Rory Kennedy, daughter of 
former US attorney general and senator Bobby Kennedy, and Adam McKay, 
director of The Big Short, Vice and Don’t Look Up. Jeremy Strong, the 
Succession actor, joined the board in December.

As the presidential election campaign intensifies, Climate Defiance 
plans to deploy its playbook on the trail in an effort to drive the 
climate crisis up the agenda. “We’ll try to make climate change a top 
three issue in this election cycle,” said Greenberg.

The group has targeted Democrats in the Biden administration because 
“they’re the administration in power”, he said. Will it turn its 
attention to Republican events at polling day draws closer? “We just 
might,” Greenberg replied, with a laugh. “I will not comment on that.”

The Federal Reserve and Powell, a Trump appointee, will also remain in 
the group’s sights. Climate Defiance wants the central bank to crack 
down on the lenders financing fossil fuel projects, but the Fed has so 
far insisted such moves would be “inappropriate”.

“The banks are getting a free pass to torch the planet, and the Fed is 
doing nothing about it,” said Greenberg. Powell, in his view, is “either 
asleep at the wheel or in bed with the fossil fuel CEOs”.

While a spokesperson for the Fed declined to comment, Powell’s personal 
frustration over the protests has been evident. “Just closing the 
fucking door,” he could be heard saying on a hot mic while he was 
ushered offstage in November.

Reappearing a few minutes later, Powell did not directly address the 
protest. “OK, where was I?” he said.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/dec/26/climate-defiance-change-protesters-confrontation

- -

/[ You could join ]/
*Climate Defiance *
WE DO NOT DO PETITIONS. WE DO DIRECT ACTION.
Our leaders have failed to save us. So we will save ourselves.
We are young. We are livid. We are no longer willing to be disposable.
We have been sold out by our politicians. We have been betrayed. But we 
refuse to lose hope.
https://www.climatedefiance.org/



/[ Investopedia news ]/
*The Costs Of Climate Change Are Already Here: In Your Homeowners 
Insurance Bill*
By DICCON HYATT
Published December 26, 2023

      * Climate change is partly responsible for a recent surge in
        insurance premiums, and the costs will continue to mount in the
        future.
      * Climate change makes storms, extreme heat, floods, and other
        catastrophes more likely.
      * Insurers are passing the increasing costs of paying claims on to
        consumers.
      * If you’re one of many people reeling at how quickly your
        insurance bills are rising, don’t just blame inflation—blame
        climate change.

The growing impact of climate change is a major factor in why insurance 
bills have been soaring lately, researchers and industry insiders say. 
Climate change is making storms, floods, and wildfires more frequent and 
severe. While the loss of lives is the most severe consequence of these 
events, there are financial costs as well.

For example, insurance companies have to pay out more claims—costs that 
are ultimately passed on to consumers one way or another. Inflation, 
plus climate change costs, have raised premiums for car insurance 19% 
over the last year according to government data, and pushed homeowner’s 
insurance premiums up 21% between May 2022 and 2023, according to an 
analysis by Policygenius.
“There are two things that drive insurance loss costs, which is the 
frequency of events and how much they cost,” said Robert Passmore, 
assistant vice president of personal lines at the Property Casualty 
Insurers Association of America. “So, as these events become more 
frequent, that's definitely going to have an impact.”

To be sure, it’s difficult to put an exact price tag on climate change 
since no one knows with certainty whether any single hurricane or fire 
would have happened if not for global warming, or exactly how much worse 
it was because of climate change. Economists tend to think of it in 
terms of probability: What’s the statistical chance that any given storm 
or heat wave was caused by climate change?

Research suggests the number is high, and getting higher. A 2021 report 
by the United Nations’ World Meteorological Organization found that out 
of 77 extreme weather events between 2015 and 2017, 62 had “significant 
human influence.”1
A more conservative estimate, chalking up 50% of natural disaster damage 
to climate change, would cost many billions of dollars. In the U.S., 
there have been 25 climate and weather disasters costing at least $1 
billion so far in 2023, according to the National Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Administration.
Natural disasters have already pushed the insurance business to the 
point of crisis in disaster-prone states.

Earlier this year, insurance giants State Farm and Allstate (ALL) 
stopped issuing new homeowners policies in California, saying the state 
wouldn’t allow them to raise rates enough to compensate for elevated 
wildfire risk. The move was imitated earlier this year by smaller firms 
Merastar Insurance Company, Unitrin Auto and Home Insurance Company, 
Unitrin Direct Property and Casualty Company, and Kemper Independence 
Insurance Company, according to reports.2

AAA, Farmers, and several other insurance companies have reportedly 
pulled out of Florida. (It’s not just natural disasters though—the 
Insurance Information Institute blames the Florida crisis on a spate of 
fraudulent roof-repair schemes that’s driven up litigation costs.)

In both states, homeowners no longer able to get normal insurance have 
had to turn to state-run programs that serve as “insurers of last 
resort.” California’s option charges more and provides less coverage 
than private options.
Indeed, the extent of insurance premium increases varies widely by 
state. Florida homeowners had their premiums rise by 35% in 2023, while 
those in Vermont only rose 10% according to Policygenius.3

Even if you don’t live in a state that’s been hit by a major natural 
disaster lately, you still might end up paying for it. Reinsurance 
companies, the companies that insure insurance companies against losses, 
spread out the costs of paying for disasters.

“If the reinsurance company has a huge loss in California, they're going 
to recoup that loss by upping everybody else's reinsurance in other 
high-risk areas,” said Jesse M. Keenan, a professor of real estate and 
urban planning at Tulane University, an expert on climate change’s 
effects on the housing market.
https://www.investopedia.com/the-costs-of-climate-change-are-already-here-in-your-insurance-bill-8414294

- -

[ Business Insurance and Risk Management ]
*10. Property insurance rates surged during 2023*
Matthew Lerner
December 25, 2023
The pricing surge in most major lines of insurance coverage that began 
in 2018 continued in 2023, with commercial property insurers leading the 
charge.

The closely watched quarterly pricing reports produced by the Council of 
Insurance Agents & Brokers showed sharp increases in property rates in 
the first few months of the year, and while increases moderated slightly 
as the year progressed, property buyers continued to see price hikes 
that far outpaced inflation.
A story detailing changes in first-quarter insurance pricing was the 
10th-most-read risk management-related story on the Business Insurance 
website in 2023.

Commercial property premiums increased more than 20% in the first 
quarter, while umbrella liability rates rose 8.5%, commercial auto was 
up 8.3%, general liability up 4.6%, and workers compensation rates fell 
slightly, according to the Council.

Property insurers themselves had seen sharp increases in their own 
coverage with property reinsurance rates at Jan. 1, 2023.

The rise in primary property rates continued through the third quarter.

Forecasts are for further rate hikes during 2024, including continued 
property insurance rate increases. Liability lines may also see rising 
rates.

Moderating inflation in 2024, though, may eventually help ease some of 
the rate hikes, according to one report. And more modest property 
increases at year-end reinsurance renewals could help primary insurers.
https://www.businessinsurance.com/article/20231225/NEWS06/912361750/10-Property-insurance-rates-surged-during-2023



/[The news archive - an idea often discussed -]/
/*December 27, 2008 */
December 27, 2008: WeeklyStandard.com posts an article from 
self-professed "global warming agnostic" Charles Krauthammer calling for 
a so-called "net zero gas tax." In the article, which is also published 
in the magazine's January 5, 2009 issue, Krauthammer writes:

    "High gas prices, whether achieved by market forces or by government
    imposition, encourage fuel economy. In the short term, they simply
    reduce the amount of driving. In the longer term, they lead to the
    increased (voluntary) shift to more fuel-efficient cars. They render
    redundant and unnecessary the absurd CAFE standards--the
    ever-changing Corporate Average Fuel Economy regulations that
    mandate the fuel efficiency of various car and truck fleets--which
    introduce terrible distortions into the market. As the consumer
    market adjusts itself to more fuel-efficient autos, the green car
    culture of the future that environmentalists are attempting to
    impose by decree begins to shape itself unmandated. This shift has
    the collateral environmental effect of reducing pollution and CO2
    emissions, an important benefit for those who believe in man-made
    global warming and a painless bonus for agnostics (like me) who
    nonetheless believe that the endless pumping of CO2 into the
    atmosphere cannot be a good thing."

http://www.weeklystandard.com/article/17031


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