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Map showing worldwide natural disasters in 2023. Worldwide, natural disasters in 2023 resulted in losses of around US$250 billion (previous year US$250 billion). Loss statistics were characterised by the large number of severe regional storms. Such high thunderstorm losses have never been recorded before in the USA or in Europe: assets worth around US$66 billion were destroyed in North America, of which US$50 billion was insured, while in Europe the figure was US$10 billion (€9.1 billion), of which US$8 billion (€7.3 billion) was insured. A large body of scientific research indicates that climate change favours severe weather with heavy hailstorms. Similarly, loss statistics from thunderstorms in North America and other regions are trending upward. Graphic: Munich Re

May 1, 2024

Munich Re: Record thunderstorm losses in 2023 – “The warming of the earth that has been accelerating for some years is intensifying the extreme weather in many regions, leading to increasing loss potentials”

9 January 2024 (Munich Re) – Worldwide, natural disasters in 2023 resulted in losses of around US$ 250bn (previous year US$ 250bn), with insured losses of US$ 95bn (previous year US$ 125bn). Overall losses tally with the five-year average, while insured losses were slightly below the average figure of US$ 105bn. Unlike in previous years, […]

Map showing notable economic loss events due to natural and climate disasters in 2023. Global economic losses in 2023 were higher than the 21st century average. Economic losses from global natural disasters in 2023 are estimated at $380 billion, above long-term and short-term averages, after adjusting historical losses to today’s values using the U.S. Consumer Price Index. All continents recorded remarkable natural disaster events in 2023 and multiple countries faced the most significant disasters in their modern histories. The global map shows event and peril patterns that contributed to the overall economic losses in 2023. The largest loss driver was earthquake, yet this was largely caused by a handful of events, notably the earthquake sequence in Turkey and Syria. Severe convective storms came second, with the largest individual losses concentrated in the United States and Europe. Graphic: Aon

February 19, 2024

Aon: Number of billion-dollar disasters in 2023 highest on record – Severe convective storms were the most damaging peril for insurers

LONDON, 23 January 2024 (Aon) – Aon plc, a leading global professional services firm, today published its 2024 Climate and Catastrophe Insight report, which identifies global natural disaster and climate trends to help make better decisions to manage volatility and enhance global resilience. The report reveals that the 398 global natural disaster events caused a $380 billion (2022: $355 billion) […]

A combination picture shows satellite images of Ozello, Florida before flooding (L) on 12 January 2023 and flooding in the aftermath of Hurricane Idalia in Florida, U.S., 30 August 2023. Photo: Maxar Technologies / REUTERS / CBS News

September 10, 2023

Home insurers cut natural disasters from policies as climate risks grow – “The same risks that are making insurance more important are making it harder to get”

By Jacob Bogage 3 September 2023 (The Washington Post) – In the aftermath of extreme weather events, major insurers are increasingly no longer offering coverage that homeowners in areas vulnerable to those disasters need most. At least five large U.S. property insurers — including Allstate, American Family, Nationwide, Erie Insurance Group and Berkshire Hathaway — […]

A home burns on 16 August 2021, south of Janesville, California. Photo: Ethan Swope / Associated Press

June 11, 2023

Allstate joins State Farm in suspending new policies in California – “The cost to insure new home customers in California is far higher than the price they would pay for policies due to wildfires, higher costs for repairing homes, and higher reinsurance premiums”

By Ryan Mac 4 June 2023 (The New York Times) – California property owners hoping to open new insurance policies are no longer able to do so with one of the nation’s largest homeowner insurance companies. Allstate, the state’s fourth-largest property and casualty insurance provider, has stopped selling new home, condominium or commercial insurance policies in California, […]

Changes in flood insurance rates in Miami-Dade County, Florida. Data: FEMA. Graphic: WUSF

May 30, 2023

Flood insurance costs to soar in Florida – In the most expensive ZIP code for flood insurance in South Florida, average premiums will rise above $7,000 per year

By Nicolas Rivero 21 May 2023 (WUSF) – Brace for a few years of flood insurance rate hikes, South Florida. And they’re going to be steep — doubling, even tripling for thousands of homeowners. FEMA has changed the way it calculates flood insurance prices. Instead of relying on old flood zone maps covering broad areas, […]

Angela Crawford watches as a wildfire called the McKinney fire burns a hillside above her home in Klamath National Forest, California, on Saturday, 30 July 2022. Crawford and her husband stayed, as other residents evacuated, to defend their home from the fire. Photo: Noah Berger / AP Photo

May 28, 2023

Insurance giant State Farm halts sale of new home policies in California due to wildfires – “State Farm General Insurance Company made this decision due to historic increases in construction costs outpacing inflation, rapidly growing catastrophe exposure, and a challenging reinsurance market”

By Gloria Oladipo 27 May 2023 (The Guardian) – The insurance giant State Farm, America’s biggest car and home insurer by premium volume, will halt the sale of new home insurance policies in California, citing wildfire risk and inflation of construction costs. Starting on Saturday, the company will not accept insurance applications for business and personal lines […]

Satellite view of the Iberian Peninsula on 11 May 2023 and 11 May 2023. These images, acquired by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite, show where green vegetation in May 2022 turned brown by May 2023. The sparse rainfall further parched soils that were already unusually dry in 2022. According to a recent report by Copernicus Climate Change Services, soil moisture across all of Europe in 2022 was the second lowest in the past 50 years. Unseasonable heat exacerbated the prolonged drought. On 26 April 2023, hot air from North Africa swept over southern Spain and pushed the temperature at the Córdoba airport to 38.8°C (101.8°F), the highest April temperature recorded in continental Spain. Photo: Allison Nussbaum / NASA Earth Observatory

May 27, 2023

Drought in Spain spurs largest-ever claim for agricultural insurance – 2023 sees the highest number of fires and the most extensive burned area since 2006

By Akankshita Mukhopadhyay 26 May 2023 (Reinsurance News) – The drought in Spain would be the largest claim ever paid by the Spanish agricultural insurance, according to professional services firm Aon. Agroseguro, the leading agricultural insurance provider in Spain, is bracing for an unprecedented payout of over €300 million ($325 million) in compensations due to […]

Map showing global climate risk as an Aggregated Damage Ratio, projected to the year 2050. Graphic: XDI

February 28, 2023

Florida’s projected sea level rise by 2100 is bad news for sunshine state – Outside of China, Florida is the most at-risk state/province in the world for economic damage caused by climate change

By Pandora Dewan 24 February 2023 (Newsweek) – By 2100, Florida could see sea levels rise by up to 6 feet, with over 900,000 properties at risk of being underwater. “By 2050, Florida sea levels, like much of the US, are headed for a 1-foot rise on average (above 2020 levels),” William Sweet, an Oceanographer for the […]

People carrying their belongings arrive at an evacuation center in Santa Barbara, California, Monday, 9 January 2023, during record flooding. Photo: Ringo H.W. Chiu / AP Photo

February 28, 2023

The American climate migration has already begun – More than 3 million Americans lost their homes to climate disasters in 2022

By Jake Bittle 23 February 2023 (The Guardian) – Over the past decade, the US has experienced a succession of monumental climate disasters. Hurricanes have obliterated parts of the Gulf Coast, dumping more than 50 inches of rain in some places. Wildfires have denuded the California wilderness and destroyed thousands of homes. A once-in-a-millennium drought […]

Map showing natural catastrophe loss events in 2022. Natural catastrophes caused overall losses of US$270 billion worldwide. Data: Munich Re, NatCatSERVICE, 2023. Graphic: Munich Re

January 31, 2023

Munich Re: Climate change and La Niña driving losses – “Climate change is taking an increasing toll. The natural disaster figures for 2022 are dominated by events that, according to the latest research findings, are more intense or are occurring more frequently.”

10 January 2023 (Munich Re) – With overall losses of around US$ 270bn (previous year US$ 320bn) and insured losses of roughly US$ 120bn (previous year US$ 120bn), 2022 joins the recent run of years with high losses. Overall losses were close to the average for the last five years, while insured losses were significantly […]