In 2023, climate disasters in France cost 6.5 billion euros to insurers who are worried about “ change of scale » and the acceleration of these devastating events, Florence Lustman, president of France Assureurs, told AFP on Wednesday.
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Regarding climate risk, we are experiencing a “ change of scale » manifesto, 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 cross “ successive levels in the cost of climate risk », specifies Florence Lustman. In the years 2000 to 2008 “ we were on average at 2.7 billion euros per year “. Then, between 2010 and 2019, “ we went 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, each time with more than 15 municipalities subject to a natural disaster order “, THE “ storms Ciaran and Domingos which hit the northwest and caused 517,000 claims at a cost of 1.6 billion euros ”, and the floods in the north which made “ 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 », Estimates the president of France Assureurs. So, ” 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 governmental prevention, combined with insurer prevention » make for example that “ Storms Ciaran and Domingos had an impact which was contained. It could have been much worse », concludes Florence Lustman.
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