Post Category → European Union

The Conversation: Climate change – how fires and floods are creating uninsurable areas across Europe

The Conversation: Climate change – how fires and floods are creating uninsurable areas across Europe.

There’s been lots of talk about the impacts of climate change on the insurance industry in the US, but I haven’t seen too much –besides some anecdotal evidence in the agriculture sector mostly — here in Europe. That is changing.

In Europe, concern over the protection gap – meaning the share of disaster losses that insurance does not cover – is rising. According to EIOPA, the EU’s insurance regulator, 75% of economic losses from natural catastrophes in Europe have historically gone uninsured.

In Germany, the national insurance association has warned that premiums could double within a decade due to climate-driven claims. In France, the national natural disaster scheme, known as CatNat, has been running at a deficit since 2016, prompting the government to raise the compulsory surcharge on all property insurance policies from 12% to 20% in January 2025.

In short, traditional insurance is ill-equipped to confront the reality of climate change. There are, however, alternative models that could provide coverage to people most at risk.

And concludes:

As these innovative solutions emerge, one thing is clear: uninsurable areas are no longer some distant future prospect. Weather-related damage has always happened, but the mechanisms we built to absorb climate risk were designed for a more stable climate. As that stability erodes, the question is no longer whether or not the public sector will need to play a larger role, but how quickly it can be redesigned to do so.

Link.

Yale Environment 360: Europe to Ramp Up Offshore Wind in Push for Energy Independence

Yale Environment 360: Europe to Ramp Up Offshore Wind in Push for Energy Independence

A group of European leaders pledged Monday to build 100 gigawatts of offshore wind,enough to power more than 50 million homes. As Europe faces a hostile Russia and an increasingly bellicose U.S., experts see deepening risks in its reliance on imported fossil fuels.

“Historically, interferences by the U.S. government in gas markets to exert pressure on Europe were considered unthinkable,” said Raffaele Piria, of the Ecologic Institute, a think tank based in Berlin. “In the current geopolitical context, this assumption is questionable.”

Link.

Le Monde: ‘Instead of commenting on the unthinkable, Europeans should take action in Greenland’

Le Monde: ‘Instead of commenting on the unthinkable, Europeans should take action in Greenland‘

In an op-ed, researchers Béatrice Giblin, Sylvain Kahn, Pauline Schnapper and Céline Spector argue: “Instead of commenting on the unthinkable, Europeans would be better served by taking action. They need to dare to engage in a balance of power and to draw red lines; such is the purpose of diplomacy. It is also a matter of territorial sovereignty and solidarity, as well as dignity and honor.”

A few suggestions:

  • The first step should be a clear and unequivocal declaration by the European Council affirming the territorial integrity of Greenland, Denmark and the EU.
  • The second would be to bar Trump’s special envoy to Greenland, Jeff Landry from entering EU territory by denying him any visa.
  • A third option would be, with the approval of the the Greenlandic Parliament to deploy military equipment and elite units from several member states – ideally from all 27 – around and on Greenland itself.

WRI: What Is the EU Deforestation Regulation? 7 Key Questions, Answered

What World Resources Institute: What is the EU Deforestation Regulation? 7 Key Questions, Answered

The world is losing 18 soccer fields of tropical primary every minute; much of it is the result of clearing for farms, pastures and tree plantations.

As a major buyer of commodities largely responsible for fueling deforestation — such as palm oil, cocoa, coffee, soy, cattle and timber — the EU has both a responsibility and an opportunity to help shift global markets toward more sustainable supply chains. The landmark EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), adopted in 2023, requires businesses to demonstrate that the products they sell or export to the EU do not come from land that was recently deforested or degraded. 

The EUDR is a key step in responding to today’s deforestation and supporting countries in achieving their national forest protection policies. Yet despite its promise, the regulation has faced delays and pushback, threatening its timely implementation.

Just weeks before the EUDR was to go into force on Dec. 30, 2025, the European Parliament voted to delay entry into application of the law until Dec. 30, 2026 for large corporations and until June 30, 2027 for small businesses with fewer than 50 employees and earning less than 10 million euros ($11.7 million) in annual sales of covered products.

The rest.

EAA Report: State of Europe’s environment ‘not good’, threats to nature and impacts of climate change top challenges

‘Europe’s Environment 2025’ is the European Environment Agency’s (EAA) is the seventh five-year report issued by the watchdog group. The findings are not a big surprise. The chart above illustrates that the safe operating space of six of the nine planetary boundaries are being exceeded.

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