The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) seeks feedback on its consultation paper on developing an awareness tool. It aims at helping citizens better understand how exposed is their property to natural hazards, the benefits of adequate insurance coverage and what prevention measures they can take to reduce potential losses.
Climate change triggers more intense and frequent natural hazards such as heatwaves, storms, floods, and droughts. This is making current and future homeowners more exposed to climate-related damages, and can lead to higher home insurance premiums over time. Increasing citizens’ awareness about natural hazards and climate risks becomes increasingly relevant for citizens and insurers alike.
In this context, EIOPA is proposing the development of an awareness tool that can be used by all Europeans to better understand the potential impacts of climate change on their properties.
EIOPA outlines the key information that should be made available in the tool, including:
- The risk score to natural hazards of a property based on its location
- Risk prevention measures available for the most common types of perils
- Measures related to insurance coverage, providing information on the importance of being aware of exclusions, on potential national insurance schemes in place for natural catastrophes, among others.
In its proposal, EIOPA includes the most common and most damaging perils in Europe, namely: earthquakes, river floods, windstorms, wildfires, and coastal flood.
EIOPA firmly believes that raising the awareness of citizens about their exposure to natural hazards will effectively help to reduce the insurance protection gap for natural catastrophes in the EU and contribute to the long-term resilience of our society against climate change.
EIOPA invites stakeholders to provide their feedback on the Consultation Paper by responding to the questions via the online survey no later than 28 February 2025. All responses will be published on EIOPA’s website unless otherwise requested.