Paying for climate change

Professor Ilan Noy and Dr Judy Lawrence discuss the economic impact of climate change for New Zealand homeowners.

Spotlight Lecture Series—Professor Ilan Noy and Dr Judy Lawrence

July 2017

The effects of climate change will be widespread across New Zealand, and expensive if left for us all to muddle through. Rising sea levels, an inundation of storms and extreme weather events are likely to affect thousands of homes and could lead to them being uninsurable.

So, who will pay? Can and should the government step in to help out homeowners; will other organisations emerge to cover the costs; or will it be left to homeowners themselves to foot the bill? Just as importantly, what can be done now to prepare for these impacts—before the impacts become unmanageable—and to establish policy and regulatory frameworks to deal with this inevitable problem?

Victoria University’s Chair in the Economics of Disasters Professor Ilan Noy and the Climate Change Research Institute’s Senior Research Fellow Dr Judy Lawrence discuss the economic impact of climate change for New Zealand homeowners.

The Victoria University Spotlight Lecture Series is an opportunity to sample the research undertaken by Victoria academics, in bite-sized lunchtime lectures. The Spotlight Series will take place regularly between 12.30–1.15pm in the Wellington CBD.

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