In view of the increasing number of extreme weather events, the insurance industry believes that all residential buildings must be insured against natural hazards.
In a position paper, the Association of the German Insurance Industry suggests that there should only be residential building insurance with a corresponding component.
As the association announced on Friday, there has so far only been elementary protection for 50 percent of the buildings.
"We cannot accept that every second house lacks insurance cover against climate damage," said the association's general manager, Jörg Asmussen.
Existing contracts should therefore be supplemented and new contracts only offered with elementary protection.
New buildings in risk zones should no longer be insurable against flooding.
For the proposed intervention in existing contracts, however, the legal basis would have to be changed.
This also applies if insurers wanted to agree on a uniform range of new customers.
So far, this could mean a violation of antitrust law.
According to a comparison by Stiftung Warentest, many tariffs offer elementary protection for less than 100 euros a year.
The premium is higher in risk areas.
The association emphasized that the contribution should continue to be based on the risk.
With the new federal government one wants to discuss ways to socially acceptable conditions for hardship cases.
The move is at the center of an overall concept for climate change adaptation with which the association is also responding to the flood disaster in summer.
The insurance lobby is also calling for a construction ban in flood-prone areas, a nationwide natural hazard portal and changes in building regulations.