CATASTROPHES NATURELLES ÉVITER LA CRISE DE L’ASSURABILITÉ EN FRANCE

The report examines the growing instability of France's 'Cat-Nat' insurance regime, where the public reinsurer (CCR) is seeing its reserves deplete while private insurers maintain record profitability. It highlights an emerging insurability crisis for local authorities, particularly in overseas territories and northern France, and argues that the financial burden of climate change is unfairly shifted toward the public sector and policyholders. Reclaim Finance calls for a revision of the financial effort sharing to ensure that major listed insurers contribute more to prevention and repair.

• The French 'Cat-Nat' regime is under severe financial pressure as the public reinsurer, Caisse Centrale de Réassurance (CCR), absorbs an increasing share of natural disaster claims, reaching 60% in 2024. Between 2015 and 2024, the CCR's technical result for natural disasters was negative by more than 3.5 billion euros, causing its reserves to be halved.
• A crisis of insurability is emerging for French local authorities, characterized by rising premiums, increased deductibles, and unilateral contract terminations by insurers. This is particularly acute in overseas territories (e.g., Guadeloupe and Martinique) and regions like Hauts-de-France. For example, the town of Blendecques saw its insurance deductible rise from 100,000 to 500,000 euros after 2023 floods.
• Despite increasing climate risks, ten of the largest European listed insurers and reinsurers show record financial health. Their average net result increased by over 60% between 2010 and 2024. The non-life (property and casualty) branch of these companies generated a total technical result of over 80 billion euros between 2020 and 2024.
• Major insurers prioritize shareholder returns over climate resilience, with companies like AXA, Allianz, and Zurich Insurance returning 75% of their net results to shareholders via dividends and share buybacks. In 2024 alone, the studied sample paid over 22 billion euros in dividends, double the 2010 level.
• There is a stark contrast in France between the losses of the public CCR and the profits of major private insurers. While the CCR struggles, the French property and casualty branches of AXA, Allianz, and Generali generated an average annual technical result of 252 million euros since 2016; AXA IARD specifically recorded a technical result of 5.7 billion euros over that period.
• Future financial needs for climate risk prevention in France are estimated at an additional 480 million to 1.8 billion euros per year. Total costs for natural disasters and storms between 2020 and 2050 are projected to exceed 160 billion euros.

APA

Hauser, T. (2026). CATASTROPHES NATURELLES ÉVITER LA CRISE DE L’ASSURABILITÉ EN FRANCE. Reclaim Finance. https://reclaimfinance.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Catastrophes-Naturelles.pdf

Chicago

Hauser, Tom. CATASTROPHES NATURELLES ÉVITER LA CRISE DE L’ASSURABILITÉ EN FRANCE. Reclaim Finance, 2026. https://reclaimfinance.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Catastrophes-Naturelles.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Hauser |first1=Tom |title=CATASTROPHES NATURELLES ÉVITER LA CRISE DE L’ASSURABILITÉ EN FRANCE |publisher=Reclaim Finance |date=March 2026 |url=https://reclaimfinance.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Catastrophes-Naturelles.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{hauser2026catastrophes, author = {Hauser, Tom}, title = {{CATASTROPHES NATURELLES ÉVITER LA CRISE DE L’ASSURABILITÉ EN FRANCE}}, institution = {Reclaim Finance}, year = {2026}, month = mar, url = {https://reclaimfinance.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Catastrophes-Naturelles.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }