Now that it’s paying an average of $50 billion a year in weather- and climate-related losses, the insurance industry has become a believer in global warming.

A new study of 1,148 mitigation and adaptation programs in 51 countries — activities that cost a total of $2 trillion — shows that insurance companies have become strong supporters of reducing carbon emissions and minimizing the risks posed by extreme weather.

“Climate change stands as a stress test for insurance, the world’s largest industry with U.S. $4.6 trillion in revenues, 7% of the global economy,” writes Evan Mills, a scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory at UC Berkeley. Mills’ study found that property damage and business disruption claims have been doubling every decade since the 1980s.

— Posted by Alexander Reed Kelly.