Natural disasters are costing insurers more and more. For 2022, the bill amounts to 10 billion euros, the worst since 1999 in France. Climate change appears to be the second biggest threat to the sector over the next 5 years.
With its storms, hailstorms, fires and droughts, 2022 has exploded the bill for insurers. Over the year, natural disasters cost them 10 billion euros, the French Insurance Federation France Assureurs announced on 26 January. 2022 thus joins 1999 as the worst year, marked by storms Lothar and Martin. Between 2017 and 2021, natural disasters in France had cost an average of 3.5 billion euros per year.
In detail, hail episodes and storms between May and July 2022 cost 6.4 billion euros, France Assureurs told AFP. Added to this are the effects of the drought, particularly on individual houses, for an envelope close to 2.5 billion euros. Crop damage, flooding and forest fires complete the bill.
Climate change, the second major risk for insurers
The professional federation of insurers is also not very optimistic for the years to come. The 6th edition of the risk mapping over a 5-year horizon, also published on January 26 by France Assureurs, places climate change in second place among the greatest threats identified by the profession for the next five years. It is behind the cyberattacks, and ahead of the degraded economic environment. The risk of shortage of raw materials and energy as well as the global political risk come in fourth and fifth positions.
Cyberattack risk has remained at the top of the risk ranking since the first edition of the risk map six years ago, with climate change in second place since 2021. “Their relative stability in our mapping demonstrates that these are the main challenges that we must collectively face, assures Florence Lustman, president of France Assureurs via press release. The rise in political risk and the risk of shortage of energy and raw materials in our 2023 mapping echoes the return of war in Europe. »
In his study ” Impact of climate change on insurance by 2050 published in October 2021, France Assureurs estimates that the amount of claims due to natural disasters could reach 143 billion euros cumulatively between 2020 and 2050. This would be 69 billion more than the last 30 years, or almost double.
France was particularly affected by natural disasters in 2022. Worldwide, these disasters cost $270 billion over the year, according to reinsurer Munich Re. This is less than in 2021 and its $320 billion .