Environmental insurance is the activity of state, joint-stock, specialized and other insurance organizations to protect the environmental interests of persons engaged in the operation of hazardous facilities and bearing the risks of responsibility for the consequences of harm to others as a result of accidental environmental pollution.
The funds of this type of insurance are formed from deductions and contributions paid by these persons, as well as from any other funds unprotected by law, which are intended to compensate for losses in cases of insurance situations.
Environmental insurance has the following objectives:
- Compensation (full or partial) of environmental damage and property losses caused by disasters, natural disasters, accidents or environmental damage due to human exposure;
- stimulation of activities for the conservation and protection of nature.
Environmental insurance is carried out by concluding insurance contracts or directly prescribed by law. It can be carried out both voluntarily and without fail. The conditions of the first type are established by agreement of the parties to the contract, and the second - by the norms of the law.
The objects of environmental insurance are:
- risks of liability for environmental pollution;
- losses of the policyholder that he incurs in case of environmental pollution;
- health, life and property of policyholders (or other persons specified in the contract).
Environmental insurance is carried out in the presence of two of its subjects - the insurer and the insured.
The insurer is the appropriate organization, which is obliged to compensate the insured for a fee (insurance premium) upon the occurrence of the event specified in the contract of the damage caused within the insured amount.
An insured event is an unintentional, sudden damage to nature as a result of disasters, accidents that lead to pollution of the atmosphere, the earth's surface or wastewater.
Insurers are enterprises of all forms of ownership, which are legal entities and have production facilities within the territory of the Russian Federation.
Environmental insurance in Russia is based on the Law on Insurance of 11/27/97. According to it, three groups of interests of a property nature are distinguished: those related to life, work capacity and provision of a pension to the insured; causing harm to the person or property of individuals; causing harm to legal entities.
In the West, they distinguish between insurance of environmental risks and property from natural and environmental disasters. Until recently, this type of activity was not carried out in Russia, except for Ingosstrakh, which concluded insurance contracts for shipowners in case of oil products leakage and their pollution of the coast or waters.
Separate insurance funds are specifically designed to finance targeted work on forecasting, liquidating and ending natural and environmental disasters, catastrophes, and accidents.
The procedure and conditions for state insurance, the use of funds is established by the Russian government. Under his leadership, the Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia and Rosgosstrakh approved model provisions on voluntary environmental insurance, according to which the relevant organizations develop their own rules for this procedure on the basis of agreements between insurers and policyholders.
Now Russia has overcome monopoly in state insurance bodies. Insurance rules are prepared by insurance organizations that have received a license for this type of activity. The regulatory framework governing voluntary environmental insurance is now almost fully formed. But the development of this insurance industry is constrained by the fact that there is no necessary data for calculating tariff rates and creating large reserve funds.