The Time to Modernize Building Codes Is Now

As we’ve seen for the past several years, severe weather is no longer a seasonal or geographic issue — climate risk has now made these events possible all year long and in every state.

The statistics back up this frightening reality. November’s U.S. National Climate Assessment revealed the U.S. suffers a billion-dollar extreme weather event once every three weeks — a drastic increase from the 1980s when such a phenomenon would happen every four months. The devastation and heartache these events caused Americans and their families is incalculable.

While technology is helping predict severe weather and prevent some of these losses, other actions must be taken to further mitigate the damage. Most notably, legislators need to take a close look at their community’s building codes and update them to require new and existing structures to be built to withstand severe weather events.

FEMA reports that while following modern building codes is one of the best ways to safeguard against the effects of a natural disaster, 65% of U.S. counties, cities and towns have not adopted them.

Nationwide recently invested in research to hear directly from stakeholders to determine if they would be in favor of legislative action to strengthen building codes. What we found is that support for stronger building codes has never been stronger.

Nationwide recently surveyed commercial property stakeholders — those being commercial property owners, new construction builders and business owners. Ninety-seven percent of those surveyed agree that enhancing building standards will help better protect their properties.

Virtually all (99%) say complying with current building codes is vital for protecting their properties against weather and that they actively stay informed on their region’s building codes (98%).

However, many are concerned the building codes in their region aren’t updated to account for the climate risks they face, especially in coastal states. A quarter (24%) believe building codes in their region are currently outdated and 84% say it’s important to improve the building codes in their area.

Insurance leaders have a responsibility to use their voices to advocate for the adoption of modern building codes across the country. By partnering with local stakeholders and policy makers, we can build more resilient homes, businesses and communities for us all.

It’s time for elected officials at all levels of government to review their community’s building codes and to modernize them to deal with the increased climate risks their constituents are facing. We simply can’t afford to ignore this issue any longer.

Let’s make 2024 the year that we turned the corner on protecting our citizens, their families and their businesses.