Strengthening the natural disaster regime by ensuring the pooling of risk, and imposing preventive actions, particularly for buildings, a much-anticipated report gives the government lines of thought on Tuesday regarding the insurability of climate risks.
Former insurer Thierry Langreney was commissioned in May 2023 by the government to carry out a study on the insurability of climate risks with Gonri Le Cozannet, expert at BRGM (geological and mining research) and contributor to the 6th IPCC assessment report. , and Myriam Mrad, research director at CNRS.
The report formulates 11 major objectives and 37 recommendations, which aim at the financial rebalancing of the natural disaster compensation schemethe strengthening of individual and collective prevention efforts in the face of climatic hazards and the maintenance of a protective, accessible and shared insurance system between all policyholders, according to a joint press release from the Ministers of Economy and Ecological Transition.
Consultation work launched at the start of the month
Consultation work with all stakeholders concerned will be launched this April in order to calibrate the various measures of this action plan. The government plans to implement the guidelines adopted as part of the measures of the third national plan for adaptation to climate change, the text adds.
Measures could also be taken either at the regulatory level or at the level of the 2025 finance bill, according to the same source. The government therefore wishes to study how to modulate the contribution on premiums for the Cat Nat scheme according to the possible hazards in each zone to avoid certain zones being neglected by the insurance market. In this context, the government wants to create a climate risk insurance observatory.
Furthermore, the government wants strengthen the prevention of natural risks and the resilience of buildings. The subject is to find the right balance between solidarity and responsibility, indicated a government spokesperson during a telephone conference.
The government has already implemented one of the report’s recommendations by deciding at the end of 2023 to increase the Cat Nat surcharge, which finances the natural disaster regime, from 12% to 20% from 2025.
In 2023, climate disasters in France cost 6.5 billion euros to insurers who are worried about the change in scale and the acceleration of these devastating events, according to France Assureurs. The cost of damage mainly linked to climate could increase by around 50% by 2050, the government estimates.