Green development of environmental pollution liability insurance

On the one hand, it is urgent to develop a low-carbon economy and build an ecological civilization and environment-friendly society. On the other hand, China is still in a period of high incidence of environmental pollution accidents, with many hidden dangers and high frequency of gradual, sudden and sudden pollution accidents, which is a reality. Yanwu, a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and chairman of China People's Insurance Group Co., Ltd., suggested speeding up the development of environmental pollution liability insurance and promoting the development of low-carbon economy. Yanwu said that relevant surveys show that among the 7,555 large-scale heavy chemical industrial projects surveyed nationwide, 8 1% are located in environmentally sensitive areas such as river waters and densely populated areas, and 45% are major risk sources. Over the past year, there have been accidents such as Shaanxi Huayin oil pipeline leaking into Weihe River, Yellow River and Lanzhou Petrochemical Plant explosion, and lead pollution in Qingyuan, Guangdong Province and Dafeng, Jiangsu Province, which have seriously polluted the environment and endangered public health and social stability. Yanwu pointed out that environmental pollution liability insurance is a green insurance system widely used in the world to deal with environmental pollution problems. Experience has proved that an effective environmental pollution liability insurance system can achieve a "win-win" between economy and environment. Insurance can become the "third eye" of marketization between the government and the subject of environmental responsibility. Based on their own risk control, insurance companies will inevitably actively participate in the investigation of risks and hidden dangers. At the same time, the lever mechanism linked with the level of safety and environmental protection management can strengthen the internal pressure of the responsible subject and urge the insured enterprises to reduce the quantity and degree of pollution emissions. In the event of major environmental pollution accidents, insurance participation in environmental pollution control can not only provide economic compensation for pollution victims and reduce the burden on the government, but also transfer and disperse the business risks of the insured enterprises and provide economic help for pollution control after sudden environmental accidents. Although the implementation of environmental pollution liability insurance has many advantages, it is developing slowly in China at present. Yanwu said that the main constraints are the lack of legal protection for the implementation of this insurance, the lack of institutional constraints for enterprises to participate in insurance, and the lack of effective accountability system for infringers. Second, policy support is insufficient. Environmental pollution accidents have a great impact. In the period of high incidence of environmental pollution accidents in China, it is difficult to continue to rely solely on the commercial mechanism of insurance companies. In addition, there is no unified compensation standard for environmental pollution damage in China, and it is difficult for insurance companies to control the risk of disaster losses in terms of exploration, damage determination and liability determination, which further affects the rate determination and product development of environmental liability insurance. In this regard, Yanwu suggested that the relevant provisions of environmental liability insurance should be incorporated into national and local legislation, and the mandatory direction and transitional measures for the construction of environmental pollution liability insurance system should be clarified, and the principle, subject, scope, standard, burden of proof and claim limitation of environmental pollution damage compensation should be clarified.