Skip to main content
European Commission logo
enen
Business, Economy, Euro
Finance

Insurance of climate-related disasters

The Commission is exploring ways to strengthen the capacity of the insurance sector to address the losses from climate-related disasters.

What the EU is doing and why

Climate change could aggravate the climate protection gap, i.e. the losses from climate disasters that are not insured or covered by other means of financial compensation. The Commission is therefore examining how to address the climate protection gap.

Climate resilience dialogue

In autumn 2022, the Commission launched the climate resilience dialogue. The intention to set up the dialogue was announced in the strategy for financing the transition to a sustainable economy as well as in the EU strategy on adaptation to climate change.

The climate resilience dialogue has been discussing solutions to narrow the climate protection gap and increase the resilience of economies and societies against climate change impacts.

In July 2024, the climate resilience dialogue concluded its work and published a final report. The report brings together insights and learnings from the groups’ discussions and puts forward actions and good practices to increase climate resilience and address the climate protection gap, with a focus on climate adaptation.

More specifically, the report

  • provides a brief overview of the main climate-related risks to which people, businesses, and assets are currently exposed in Europe
  • analyses the key contributing factors of the climate protection gap
  • includes an analysis of possible solutions focusing on risk reduction, risk sharing and risk transfer approaches, such as public-private partnerships and other insurance‑based solutions
  • deep‑dives into the main climate-related risks in Europe covering floods, wildfires, heatwaves, droughts and storms, highlighting lessons, good practices, and potential solutions stemming from past events that could be implemented to increase climate resilience.

More about the climate resilience dialogue

Policy making timeline

  1. 27 July 2024
    Climate resilience dialogue

    Publication of the final report of the climate resilience dialogue.

    The climate resilience dialogue concluded its work and delivered its final report, which brings together insights from the discussions and puts forward actions and good practices that are conducive to building climate resilience and narrowing the climate protection gap, with a focus on climate adaptation.

  2. 27 July 2023
    Climate resilience dialogue

    Publication of the interim report of the climate resilience dialogue.

    The mid-term report outlines the work carried out by the dialogue since its inception and presents the focus areas for the dialogue’s future work towards the final report, the emphasis of which will be on the identification of solutions to climate protection gaps in the EU.

  3. 29 November 2022
    Climate resilience dialogue

    Launch of the climate resilience dialogue.

    The dialogue met for the first time, bringing together insurers, reinsurers, the corporate sector, consumers, public authorities and other stakeholders to exchange views and good practices around ways to address the losses from climate disasters.

  4. 16 April 2013
    Consultation & discussion paper

    Consultation on the insurance of natural and man-made disasters.
    The Commission ran a consultation to assess whether EU-level action could help improve the disaster insurance market.
    End date: 15 July 2013
     

    The Commission published a discussion paper accompanying the Commission's communication on an EU strategy on adaptation to climate change.