An Uninsurable Country: What Rising Climate Risk Means for Homeowners with NRDC

In episode 249 of America Adapts, host Doug Parsons takes a deep dive into the growing climate-driven insurance crisis reshaping housing and communities across the United States. Doug first speaks with Rob Moore and Alfonso Pating of the Natural Resources Defense Council about their new reports on the nation's emerging insurability crisis—why premiums are rising, insurers are retreating from high-risk areas, and what state policies can do to reduce risk and keep homes insurable. Then filmmaker George Siegal joins the show to discuss his documentary Built to Last: Buyer Beware, which reveals how many American homes are simply not built to withstand the disasters they face. Together, these conversations connect the dots between climate risk, insurance markets, and the way we build our communities—showing how insurance is becoming one of the clearest warning signals of climate change in action.

https://www.americaadapts.org/episodes/an-uninsurable-country-what-rising-climate-risk-means-for-homeowners

Experts in this Episode:

Rob Moore - Director of the Climate Adaptation Division at NRDC

Alfonso Pating - Global financial regulations specialist with NRDC.

George Siegal - Award-winning documentary filmmaker, Director, Producer and owner of Move the World Films

Key Themes Covered in This Episode

• What an "insurability crisis" is—and why it's emerging across the U.S.

• Why premiums are rising, policies are disappearing, and insurers are pulling back

• What makes a home insurable: risk, location, and construction

• The role of states in shaping insurance markets, building codes, and land use

• How FAIR Plans work and why they're rapidly expanding

• Whether FAIR Plans can become tools for resilience, not just backstops

• How insurance markets are acting as a signal of climate risk

• Why many homes are not built to withstand today's disasters

• The tension between affordability and resilient construction

• What this all means for the future of housing and adaptation

For Educators & Students

• How insurance markets are responding to climate risk

• The role of states in shaping insurance, building codes, and land use

• The connection between housing, affordability, and resilience

• Insurance as an economic signal of climate change

• Professors are welcome to assign this episode or excerpts in syllabi

Who Should Listen to This Episode

• Climate adaptation and resilience professionals

• State and local officials focused on housing, risk, and planning

• Urban planners and developers working in high-risk areas

• Insurance and finance professionals tracking climate risk

• Climate communicators and educators explaining these shifts

Transcript of Rob Moore and Alfonso Pating interview avaible here.

Transcript of George Siegal interview available here.

This episode was generously sponsored by the Natural Resources Defense Council

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Links in this episode:

An Uninsurable Country
https://www.nrdc.org/resources/uninsurable-country

https://www.nrdc.org/resources/insurance-fair-future

https://builttolastmovie.com/

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