There are three key environmental liability policies in corporate and land transactions – indemnity policies, site pollution legal liability policies and contractor pollution liability policies.

  1. Indemnity policies
  • Used principally for high risk desktop reports
  • Responds if a regulator threatens to serve a remediation notice
  • Covers remediation costs, legal fees and loss of property value
  • Exclusions for civil claims, storage tanks
  • Policy period 15 – 25 years
  1. Site Pollution legal liability (SPL) policies
  • Comprehensive protection for onsite and offsite contamination
    a) Regulatory action
    b) Third party claims
    c) Environmental damage
    d) Contractual liabilities
  • Exclusions for phase 2s and no onsite cover during remediation
  • Some insurers will exclude high risk known issues
  • Policy period can be 5 or 10 years
  1. Contractors Pollution Liability (CPL) policies
  • Remediation or construction disturbs existing contaminants
  • Policy period 3 to 7 years

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