The climate crisis will render one in 25 Australian properties effectively uninsurable by 2030, researchers claim.
The analysis from the Australian Climate Council also found that the number rises to one in seven homes in Australia’s most at-risk areas, as climate change fuels worse and more frequent disasters.
Nicki Hutley, a climate councillor and economist, said: “It is clear that Australia is fast becoming an uninsurable nation. Skyrocketing costs or flat out insurance ineligibility are becoming more and more widespread under climate change.
“As an economist, I find these new numbers shocking and deeply concerning.”
The Climate Council has released an interactive Climate Risk Map where Australians can enter their address to discover the risk of fires, floods and extreme wind, based on low, medium and high emissions scenarios.
Amanda McKenzie, Climate Council CEO, said: “Climate change is playing out in real-time here and many Australians now find it impossible to insure their homes and businesses.
“Over the past eight years, the federal government has failed to meaningfully tackle climate change or prepare Australians for the worsening extreme weather events that we are now experiencing.
“The decisions of the next government will influence the future impacts of climate change for generations to come.
“Pollution from coal, oil and gas must begin to plummet and we must scale up our renewable power so it meets the needs of all sectors of our economy.”
Climate scientists have warned Australia is at a “precipice”, as the worsening climate crisis ramps up the impacts on the country.
The warning came after a United Nations report on the climate crisis around the world described an “atlas of human suffering” which is on course to bring “irreversible” changes to many parts of the world, including Australia and New Zealand.
