Climate Risks Call For Proactive Resilience, Pros Say

Partners Sedina Banks and Sherry Jackman were quoted in a Law360 article discussing climate risks and high insurance costs with commercial projects.

Excerpts:

Still, high insurance costs and coverage gaps are impeding financing for other projects, said Sherry E. Jackman and Sedina L. Banks, environmental attorneys with Greenberg Glusker Fields Claman & Machtinger LLP, in written comments to Law360.

"We are hearing that for commercial projects, the typical insurance benchmark estimates are commonly exceeded based on increased climate risk," they said.

Jackman and Banks also said the prevalence of natural disasters like flooding and wildfires, and sea-level rise in coastal areas, puts resiliency demands on developers.

"Stronger building standards may lower the cost of homeowners insurance by reducing risk to insurers, and therefore the cost of policy premiums," they said. "Development features such as setbacks, sea walls, fire mitigation measures, elevated structures, and drainage systems are increasingly becoming a necessary development consideration."

Resources

• Law360 (Subscription Required)