Law and Economics of Environmental Insurance (Editorial)

Beside their critical position in establishing a system of compulsory environmental coverage, the insurance companies ask for a regulatory framework that increases the insurability of environmental risks, particularly defining an identifiable polluter, a concrete and quantifiable damage, a definite causation, and a clear liability assignment regime. This set of problems and the consequent debate have motivated The Geneva Association to devote its 12th joint Seminar with the European Association of Law and Economics (EALE) to exploring the issue of ‘‘Law and Economics of Environmental Insurance’’, with special attention to the role of insurance in covering environmental risks, the methods of risk management, and the relationship between insurance and catastrophic risks. The Seminar was held on 15th and 16th of June 2007 in Lecce, and was supported by The Geneva Association, the Italian Institute for Research and Development of Insurance and the Italian National Insurers Association. This special issue on the law and economics of environmental insurance contains four papers selected from contributions presented at the seminar.Devoted to the topic of nuclear risks, the first two clarify the problems connected with the insurability of these particular kinds of risks