We wrote in an earlier blog (Nov. 4, 2008) that the climate change coverage wars had begun when Steadfast Insurance Company sued The AES Corporation concerning coverage for the Native Village of Kivalina v. ExxonMobil Corporation climate change liability lawsuit.  Steadfast has charged into the fray; it filed its motion for summary judgment on March 5.  The insurer seeks judgment that there is no coverage because 1) the emission of carbon dioxide is not an "accident", as required by the policy, 2) the damage at Kivalina is a Loss in Progress excluded by the policy, and 3) the policy'...

With only two months behind it since President Barack Obama took office and even less time since Lisa P. Jackson became the Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the federal government has launched several significant climate change regulatory developments pending that, taken together, will reverse course and authorize climate change regulations even before the 111th Congress has a chance to act on the issues. The key climate change regulatory initiatives underway are as follows: ·        On Jan. 26th, Obama issued a memorandum to Jacks...

Yesterday, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners voted to require all insurers collecting more than $500 million in premium to make certain disclosures regarding the effect of climate change on their businesses. Some of you might be saying, "Finally."  Others may be critical that not enough is being said.  Beyond dispute, however, is that climate change disclosure is now in the mainstream. The NAIC joins, among others, environmental groups such as CERES and Friends of the Earth, investor groups such as the Investor Network on Climate Risk, state attorneys general a...

by Paul Cellucci  Forecasts of inevitable conflict between Canadian oil sands development and U.S. (and Canadian) carbon concerns, as expressed in this week's Wall Street Journal ("Sand Storm" by Hyun Young Lee, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123620661145533445.html) strike me as unrealistic. When I became Ambassador to Canada, the two countries had already been working for years to harmonize policies, and the working groups have continued working to this day. In fact, it seems pretty clear from the recent Ottawa summit that Prime Minister Harper wants to take a North American approach ...

One can often tell when a subject has hit the mainstream by the trend in courses and webinars one finds in one's email. By that metric, green construction is now front and center. Two emails greeted me this week. One addressed best practices for "green" leases, the other was more general and took on "green" construction in its entirety. I scanned through the materials looking for information on insurance. One brief mention indicated that the "unique" issues would be addressed. That piqued my interest. "Unique" - one of a kind - original. Was there something new under the sun here? Well, ye...