Market-governance: Biodiversity, Climate Change and Insurance

Impact: Economic impacts, Environmental impacts, Societal impacts, Technological impacts

Narrative

This impact case emerges from a series of research projects in the Philosophy Department at the University of Manchester (UoM) concerned with limitations in the market modes of governance that are increasingly dominant in environmental policy making. The primary impact has been on current policy debates concerning the future of flood insurance in the UK. In collaboration with the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, the research provided a philosophical grounding for those amongst flood affected communities, and the insurance industry, who have argued against a risk sensitive free market in insurance and for solidarity in flood insurance. This has had a significant impact on Government negotiations on the future of flood insurance – a pressing issue, as the current policy lapses in 2013 – as well as the position of the opposition Labour Party. Subsidiary impacts have been evident on the work of international NGOs working on environmental justice and debates on emerging biodiversity offset markets.
Impact date2014
Category of impactEconomic impacts, Environmental impacts, Societal impacts, Technological impacts
Impact levelBenefit