Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company, the first property and casualty insurance company to offer green insurance to the U.S. commercial marketplace, has introduced the next generation of green insurance endorsements that broadens coverage and allows policyholders to tailor solutions to better meet their needs.
“The new green endorsements represent a significant enhancement and are much broader than what’s currently available in the marketplace. We’ve developed a deeper understanding of evolving green building construction and insurance issues and incorporated that into our new offerings to better meet our customers’ needs,” said Stephen Bushnell, senior director of emerging industries at Fireman’s Fund.
To help protect property owners’ investments, Fireman’s Fund is introducing Green Financial Incentive Coverage to provide protection for incentives impacting taxes, utilities, loans and more related to green installations or upgrades. In the event of a loss, Fireman’s Fund will cover any losses for two calendar years.
“This is a powerful incentive as many new green buildings are built with these cost savings factored in. Everyday new incentives are introduced – from both the utilities and the government at the local, state and federal level – incenting property owners to build green and losses could get in the way of that,” said David Cohen, senior director of real estate, Commercial Insurance at Fireman’s Fund.
Fireman’s Fund’s endorsements contain several additional enhancements, including:
– Broadening eligibility for post-loss green upgrade to include all real and personal property that more efficiently uses energy or water, improves human health or reduces the impact on the environment. In the case of a loss, Fireman’s Fund protects the customer’s green investment with broad coverage including, for example, green power generating equipment, alternative water systems, and vegetated roofs.
– Fireman’s Fund has combined four forms – three commercial and one manufacturing – into a single endorsement, making it easier to use and which includes building commissioning and test and balance automatically as an extension of coverage.
– For a certified building: coverage allows the insured to attain certification at one level above the certified green building level that the insured had prior to the loss or damage.
– Vegetated roof coverage extended to vegetated swales and other vegetation that reduces heat island effect, including vegetated walls. Coverage now applies to both certified and traditional buildings (previously it was only for certified buildings).
– Coverage is expanded to include porous paving – water permeable paving that allows water to drain into the ground to help manage water flow.
“We strive to be the industry leader in providing innovative and market-leading green insurance products and services. Whether customers have built green commercial buildings, made green renovations to existing buildings or want to rebuild green in the event of a loss, Fireman’s Fund provides solutions to protect both financial and environmental investments,” said Bushnell.
To date, approximately 1500 commercial insurance policyholders have purchased Fireman’s Fund’s Green-Gard endorsements. To learn more about green insurance coverages at Fireman’s Fund and company initiatives.
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