The insurance industry is suffering in times of climate change, with billions in losses.

Thallinger is CEO of Allianz SE – the world's largest insurance company and Europe's largest financial services company. Even when mentioning the US, he primarily writes about Europe, warning that what's at stake isn't the fate of a single industry or a few regions, but rather the entire Western capitalist system. Its foundations were precisely those assets that could now disappear or lose value practically overnight due to climate change.

Europe isn't as exposed to risk as the United States. A June report by the European Central Bank noted that natural disasters led to losses of €30 billion in Europe, €13 billion of which fell on the shoulders of insurance companies. Both figures are, of course, significantly lower than in the United States – a result of both the fact that our continent is less exposed to weather extremes and that it has also built somewhat greater resilience and awareness of threats.

In the long term, this adds up to a considerable sum: the European Environment Agency (EEA) estimates that property losses due to weather and climate-related causes between 1980 and 2022 reached a total of €650 billion. Even if Europe doesn't experience such a scale of destruction and the drastic response of insurers, the trend is similar.

This also applies to Poland. "Insurance companies are collecting climate and hydrological data. There's no doubt that the climate has changed compared to what it was in Poland just 30 years ago. Companies are investing in technology and IT tools, both for risk assessment and mass claims settlement. The latter aspect is crucial, as the frequency of events is increasing, placing a significant burden on adjusters. Risk assessments are increasingly driven by predictions, while historical data are becoming less and less important," emphasizes Rafał Mańkowski.

The Polish expert also returns to the aforementioned climate resilience. "We contribute to increased vulnerability to the effects of natural disasters not only by heating the atmosphere, but also by pursuing inappropriate spatial development policies, which involve building on flood areas, creating canyons in cities where water accumulates, and designing inefficient sewage systems," he argues. In the event of flooding, the condition of flood protection is crucial. "The last flood in September 2024 could have been much more tragic. The reservoir in Racibórz played a key role. Thanks to this investment, Kędzierzyn-Koźle, Opole, and Wrocław were not flooded," he points out.

The insurance industry in Poland, however, is no more optimistic than in the West. " Climate change will negatively impact the Polish economy. The positive scenario assumes a relative decline in GDP of 3%, provided the goals set in the Paris Agreement are met," write the authors of the PIU report "Climate of Growing Losses," published in 2023. Well, today we know that the goals of the Paris Agreement will most likely not be achieved. "GDP will decline by 10% if the temperature increase is as predicted by the pessimistic forecasts," the report reads.