2017-22 Losses A ‘Wake-Up Call’ To Better Assess Climate Risk

The record global natural catastrophe losses between 2017-22 are a ‘wake-up call’ for the industry to ‘better assess, manage, and transfer’ the risks of future climate-related events, saids Mohsen Rahnama, CEO of Moody’s RMS.

Writing in the Moody’s RMS Catastrophe Review 2022, Rahnama highlighted how global nat cat events between 2017–21 caused $1.2 trillion in economic losses and close to $500 billion in insured losses, with 2022 also adding around $120 billion in insured losses, according to global reinsurance giant, Munich Re.

He states how these unprecedented losses that have taken place over the last six years, with an average loss of more than $100 billion per year, pose major challenges to ‘understanding, managing, and pricing future weather-related risks.’

Moreover, the industries’ challenges of dealing with unprecedented losses in recent years are mainly due to changes in the landscape of climate-related risks, with secondary perils such as flood, wildfire, and convective storms, along with large exposure changes, social inflation, and non-modeled losses, contributing significantly to overall economic and insured losses.

Rahnama warns that the significant increase in floods, convective storms, winter storms, wildfires, and heat stress events, ‘clearly shows the signature of climate change.’