France: climate disasters cost insurers 6.5 billion euros in 2023
In 2023, climate disasters in France will cost 6.5 billion euros to insurers who are worried about the “
change of scale
” and the acceleration of these devastating events, Florence Lustman told AFP on Wednesday. President of France Assureurs.
Storm Ciaran hits the town of Penmarch, in western France, on November 2, 2023. AFP - FRED TANNEAU
By: RFI with AFP
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Concerning climate risk, we are experiencing a
clear “
change of scale ”, with 2023 being “
the third most serious year in terms of climate disasters after 1999 and 2022
”, the president of the federation, Florence Lustman, told AFP. . The year 1999, marked by storms Lothar and Martin, remains the worst so far with an estimated cost of 13.8 billion euros in constant euros, followed by 2022 whose climatic events cost 10 billion euros to insurers.
We are crossing “
successive levels in the cost of climate risk
”, explains Florence Lustman. In the years 2000 to 2008 “
we were on average 2.7 billion euros per year
”. Then, between 2010 and 2019, “
we rose to 3.7 billion. And if I take the average over the last four years, including 2022 and 2023, I am at six billion
.”
There were many extreme phenomena in 2023, which is also the second hottest year in France after 2022, including “
15 windy phenomena, with winds of more than 150 km/h
”, “
14 floods with at each time, more than 15 municipalities which were the subject of a natural disaster order
", the "
storms Ciaran and Domingos which affected the north-west and caused 517,000 losses at a cost of 1.6 billion d 'euros
', and the floods in the north which caused
'40,000 victims
'.
Read alsoStorms, bad weather: the heavy cost of climatic hazards in France
Floods and droughts subject to the “cat nat” regime
Storms, such as hail, are covered in insurers' damage contracts, while floods or droughts are subject to the “cat nat” regime. The State covers half of the costs, thus reducing insurers' bills by half. “
This public-private partnership aims to cover risks which would otherwise become uninsurable for insurers
,” explains the president of France Assureurs.
A very important measure was already taken at the end of last year by Bercy to anticipate the increase in devastating climatic events with the increase in the “cat nat” surcharge from 12% to 20% from 2025 for all policyholders.
But faced with this intensification of risks, “
we consider that we still have the means to act through prevention
”, believes the president of France Assureurs. Thus, “
almost all insurers send SMS messages as soon as you have a property that is insured in a location that is likely to experience an episode of natural events
.” “
Civil and government prevention, combined with insurer prevention
” mean, for example, that “
storms Ciaran and Domingos had an impact that was controlled. It could have been much worse
,” concludes Florence Lustman.
Read alsoGlobal warming: these French municipalities which no longer find an insurer
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