Magazine date:
Mar 2014 Natural catastrophes, including the recent storms that hit France, have caused nearly 1.5 billion EUR (2 billion USD) of damages in seven months. The 1999 record of nearly 7 billion EUR (7.033 billion USD) is far from being reached. According to Stephane Pénet, manager at the French federation of insurance companies (FFSA), climate conditions are behind 16% of insurance costs.
According to various studies conducted by his institution, natural events are not the largest expense item but may become so when reaching 30% to 35% of costs if the trend noticed over the last twenty years is poised to linger on. FFSA is advocating the improvement of risk prevention policy related to climate hazards.