Climate change could make the world uninsurable - Yorkshire Post Letters

Storm Babet is the latest storm to bring flooding and distress across the country and insurance companies are warning that their increased exposure to risk due to extreme weather events under climate change means that insurance premiums will rise.

In 2022, £473m was paid out in the UK following storms Dudley, Eunice and Franklin.

While last summer, the record high temperatures led to an additional 18,000 subsidence claims totalling £219m.

Insured losses for homes and infrastructure destroyed by extreme weather have increased by 54 per cent on the previous 10 years according to insurer Swiss Re. Home insurance prices are 26 per cent higher than this time last year, an all-time high.

Some householders don’t have home insurance – unable to pay the unaffordable premiums caused by previous flooding in the area or unable to find a company willing to insure them.

Without insurance, homeowners are exposed to the costs of damage. While the value of properties in risk-prone areas will fall as potential buyers cannot get a mortgage on an uninsured property.

Insurers understand the financial costs of not acting urgently to reduce risk. The Association of British Insurers has called on the Government to take stronger action to move away from fossil fuels and for more investment in green technologies, such as “promoting the increased uptake of electric vehicles…and the switch to more energy efficient devices, like heat pumps”.

The CEO of Axa Insurance, Henri De Castries, has warned, “A 2°C world might be insurable, a 4°C world certainly would not be.”