Argentina is preparing to require that companies involved in pollution-prone activities take out insurance to cover potential environmental restoration costs—the first time a country has made such coverage mandatory, authorities here say. Legislation establishing the requirement was approved by the Argentine Congress in 2002, but never took effect. However, as a result of Argentine Supreme Court debate about the matter, rule-making by the Environment Secretariat and what appears to be the emergence of environmental insurance in the private market here, officials say implementation is near. “Though environmental insurance is very well developed in Europe and the United States and, within Latin America, in Chile…, nowhere has it been mandatory,” says Mariana Valls, head of the environmental regulations division of Argentina’s Environment Secretariat... [Log in to read more]