TED Business Will climate change make your home uninsurable? | Amy Barnes
Jan 12, 2026
Amy Barnes, a climate risk advisor focused on insurance and resilience, discusses the alarming changes in home insurance due to extreme weather. She explains how rising premiums threaten homeowners and signal systemic risk in the global economy. Barnes emphasizes the importance of investing in resilience to mitigate these issues and presents innovative insurance solutions like parametric micro-insurance for vulnerable communities. Her insights underscore the critical need for adaptation in a changing climate, urging both individual and societal action.
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Premiums Communicate Risk And Incentives
- Premiums encode risk and incentivize behaviors that reduce losses.
- Barnes explains that pricing communicates how likely a loss is and prompts risk-reducing actions.
When Risk Becomes Certainty, Insurance Fails
- If extreme weather becomes near-certain, insurance becomes unaffordable or disappears.
- Barnes warns that this shift means insurance will stop being a viable tool in high-risk places.
Losses Have Shifted From Few To Many
- Climate-driven losses are shifting from rare to frequent and costly events.
- Barnes cites rising decades-long costs and many billion-dollar incidents as evidence.