Adaptation to Climate Change and Insurance Mechanism:A Feasible Proposal Based on a Catastrophe Insurance Model for Taiwan

氣候變遷之調適與保險機制：建構台灣可行之巨災保險模式

為降低因氣候變遷所導致之巨災風險，保險自當為移轉跟分散風險之主要角色。雖於科學與相關論證已少有對於氣候變遷係導因於人類活動而致使全球溫度上升，但仍難以準確預估溫室氣體效應所帶來之影響。此項問題更導致難以預估對於氣候變遷有關極端氣候所致之經濟損失，同時保險產業也難將有關巨災風險模型化以準確估計保險費。此外，由於氣候變遷風險之不確定性將嚴重影響侵權行為所導致損害賠償責任之可保性，因此勢將討論如何適當分配巨災風險。以責任保險模式建立在侵權行為與環境責任為例，該項模式不僅應考慮侵權行為歸責原則（如過失責任、嚴格責任或追溯責任），更應注意到因果關係有無之舉證責任等。因此責任保險之適當性往往取決於氣候變遷有關之侵權行為責任相關訴訟之基礎上。另一方面而論，以補償為基礎之保險制度（如補償機制或強制保險等）似可直接補償氣候變遷受害者。實際上，關於以補償基礎之保險制度，已有不少巨災保險（如地震）可被引介為因應氣候變遷風險之保險模式。本研究即主要討論以溫室氣體排放者侵權損害賠償責任為基礎之責任保險以及以直接保障氣候變遷受害者之補償保險。同時並以台灣為例，提出因應氣候變遷風險之可行保險模式。

In response to mitigating catastrophe risk resulting from climate change, insurance plays a crucial role in transferring and spreading risk. While little debate exists among scientists and evidences as to whether human activities are significantly causing the trend of increasing global temperatures which will lead to climate change, it is still impossible to predict the effect on climate caused by increasing concentrations of Green House Gases (as GHGs). This also leads to the uncertainty of economic losses due to extreme-weather-related events and increases the difficulties of modelling catastrophe risk to the insurance industry. As the uncertainty of climate change risk will significantly affect the insurability of liability relating to tort litigation, it would be essential to discuss the appropriate insurance mechanism to distribute and reallocate catastrophe risk. With regard to liability insurance model mainly based on torts and environmental liability, it should consider not only liability regime for such damage (i.e., negligence, strict, and retroactive) but also the burden of proof regarding causal uncertainty. Therefore, appropriateness of liability insurance would rely on the efficiency of tort-based climate change litigations. On the other hand, insurance mechanism based on compensation (e.g. compensation scheme and compulsory insurance) seems to provide with the direct financial protection for victims affected by climate change... Several developed insurance models relating to catastrophe risk (for instance, earthquake fund can be considered as an efficiency model for adaptation to climate change. In this work, the author would focus on the comparative study between liability insurance based on the emitter’s liability and first-party insurance based on the compensation of the victims of climate change. Taking into account with current insurance schemes in Taiwan, this work intends to propose a viable insurance mechanism for adaptation to climate change.