美国国家公共电台 NPR--Insurance firms need more climate change information. Scientists say they can help

Insurance firms need more climate change information. Scientists say they can help

Transcript¹

Climate-driven floods, hurricanes, wildfires and heat waves cause billions of dollars of damage every year in the United States. Federal scientists hope that better access to climate data will help one industry adapt: property insurers.

Insurance companies are on the hook to pay for repairs after disasters, and even to rebuild entire homes and businesses that are destroyed. The growing cost to insurers was on full display last year, when Hurricane Ian caused more than $100 billion of damage in Florida, at least half of which was insured.

As climate-driven extreme weather gets more common, insurance companies nationwide raise prices, or cancel policies altogether, leaving homeowners in the lurch². Florida, North Carolina, Louisiana, Colorado, Oregon and California have all seen insurers fold, cancel policies or leave the state after repeated floods, hurricanes and wildfires.

"More and more Americans are frankly³ having mother nature barge⁴ through their front door," says Roy Wright, who leads the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety, an insurance industry-backed research group. "That change in climate comes at a price."

Now, two federal science agencies are trying to help. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric⁵ Administration (NOAA) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) say they will create a research center that focuses on bringing climate change data to the insurance industry.

Climate science can help companies see the future

The goal is to help insurers understand how often and how severe floods, fires, heat waves and other climate-driven disasters will be in the future, so that companies can adjust their businesses to cope with that risk.

It's not that insurance companies aren't already considering climate change. "Insurers are incredibly sophisticated around trying to understand physical climate risk," says Sarah Kapnick, NOAA's chief scientist.

But, Kapnick says, the methods that insurers currently use to figure out how much to charge for a property insurance policy don't typically include detailed⁶, long-term projections⁷ about how the climate will change in the future. Instead, companies rely on information about what has happened in the past: how frequently hurricanes have caused flooding, for example, or how hot the weather gets in August.

The problem is that the future, and even the present, no longer look like the past. Large hurricanes that used to be infrequent are getting more common. The hottest days are often beyond what anyone has ever experienced.

"What we knew about rain and wind and wildfire in 1990, and what we knew in 2010, is useful information, but it's insufficient⁸ to understand the risks that befall us come 2025, come 2030," Wright says. "NOAA, and the data they provide, is some of the most powerful data available anywhere in the world."

Insurance companies are worried about climate change

Kapnick says she has heard from insurance companies that are increasingly concerned that they don't have sufficient information to accurately⁹ assess what the future holds.

"In the last few months they've really come to us saying, 'We need better information on understanding climate change and its effects on extreme [weather],'" Kapnick explains.

The industry group the American Property Casualty Insurance Association says the new research center will be "extremely beneficial" to property insurers.

"Climate change is a significant concern to the property casualty insurance industry as our nation faces the prospect¹⁰ of increased frequency and severity of major natural disasters including hurricanes, wildfires, and floods," Karen Collins, a vice¹¹ president at the trade group, wrote in an email to NPR. "Insurers strongly support increased investments that help advance the latest science."

The goal of the new research center will be to make detailed federal climate data available to insurance companies so they can use climate science to look into the future.

In the coming months, the National Science Foundation will choose one or more universities to lead the center. Academic researchers, graduate students and federal scientists will work with insurers and reinsurers to make scientific information about climate change accessible to insurance companies, NOAA says.

This type of collaboration¹² between universities, government scientists and companies is not limited to climate science. The NSF oversees¹³ more than 70 such centers, including in agriculture, materials science and transportation.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 lurch   

n.突然向前或旁边倒；v.蹒跚而行

参考例句：

• It has been suggested that the ground movements were a form of lurch movements.地震的地面运动曾被认为是一种突然倾斜的运动形式。
• He walked with a lurch.他步履蹒跚。

3 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

4 barge   

n.平底载货船，驳船

参考例句：

• The barge was loaded up with coal.那艘驳船装上了煤。
• Carrying goods by train costs nearly three times more than carrying them by barge.通过铁路运货的成本比驳船运货成本高出近3倍。

5 atmospheric   

adj.大气的，空气的；大气层的；大气所引起的

参考例句：

• Sea surface temperatures and atmospheric circulation are strongly coupled.海洋表面温度与大气环流是密切相关的。
• Clouds return radiant energy to the surface primarily via the atmospheric window.云主要通过大气窗区向地表辐射能量。

6 detailed   

adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• A detailed list of our publications is available on request.我们的出版物有一份详细的目录备索。

7 projections   

预测( projection的名词复数 )； 投影； 投掷； 突起物

参考例句：

• Their sales projections are a total thumbsuck. 他们的销售量预测纯属估计。
• The council has revised its projections of funding requirements upwards. 地方议会调高了对资金需求的预测。

8 insufficient   

adj.(for，of)不足的，不够的

参考例句：

• There was insufficient evidence to convict him.没有足够证据给他定罪。
• In their day scientific knowledge was insufficient to settle the matter.在他们的时代，科学知识还不能足以解决这些问题。

9 accurately   

adv.准确地，精确地

参考例句：

• It is hard to hit the ball accurately.准确地击中球很难。
• Now scientists can forecast the weather accurately.现在科学家们能准确地预报天气。

10 prospect   

n.前景，前途；景色，视野

参考例句：

• This state of things holds out a cheerful prospect.事态呈现出可喜的前景。
• The prospect became more evident.前景变得更加明朗了。

11 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

12 collaboration   

n.合作，协作；勾结

参考例句：

• The two companies are working in close collaboration each other.这两家公司密切合作。
• He was shot for collaboration with the enemy.他因通敌而被枪毙了。

13 oversees   

v.监督，监视( oversee的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• She oversees both the research and the manufacturing departments. 她既监督研究部门又监督生产部门。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Department of Education oversees the federal programs dealing with education. 教育部监管处理教育的联邦程序。 来自互联网