The Financial Times reports:
However, the role of climate change in contributing to the rise in insurance losses remains contentious.
Economic growth has played a much more important role, say several scientists and insurance executives. Rising insurance losses driven by development are not necessarily problematic as they should be accompanied by a corresponding increase in premium income.
“The main drivers of the [rising] losses are mainly increases in population and in wealth,” says Ernst Rauch, head of the corporate climate centre at the reinsurer Munich Re.
He says in some regions – the US and parts of Europe – “it is likely there is a connection between the changing weather patterns and the losses”, but adds that the effect is impossible to quantify.