Environmental Insurance: Insurable Risks and Losses Subject to Compensation

Abstract

The article discusses issues related to the implementation of environmental insurance. Its purpose is to consider a number of problems, the solution of which can contribute to increasing its role in the compensation of losses caused by environmental pollution. To this end, it is proposed to expand the circle of legal entities obliged to provide financial guarantees of compensation for such losses and to use environmental insurance as one of the mechanisms of such guarantees. The effectiveness of guarantees provided by concluding insurance contracts can be ensured by regulating its conditions in a separate regulatory act. In turn, the preparation of the latter requires consideration of some aspects related to the mechanism of conducting environmental insurance. The article, in particular, characterizes the types of environmental pollution and, on this basis, draws conclusions about the possibility, expediency and specificity of insurance in relation to each of them. The insured event in environmental insurance contracts, according to the author, should be the consequences of accidental, sudden and unintentional pollution, i.e., those caused by an accident, disaster or other emergency events of man-made or natural nature. Another problem considered in the article is related to the range of losses that should be included in the scope of insurers’ liability under the insurance contracts concluded in order to provide financial guarantees of compensation for damage caused by environmental pollution. According to the author it should include losses caused by the insured to other legal entities and individuals in the form of damage to natural objects and associated with the implementation of measures aimed at reducing the damage caused by the insured event. A significant place in the article is given to the peculiarities of assessment of damage to be compensated by insurance companies. First of all, it concerns how to calculate the losses caused by damage directly to the natural environment. The results obtained in this part of the article include, in particular, the conclusion that when choosing a method of assessment of such damage one should mainly take into account the amount of costs for environmental restoration.