France's Court of Auditors warns of climate change pressures on the Cat Nat regime and proposes excluding risks that are becoming commonplace. The report, published on Friday, also suggests regularly reviewing the surprime included in all home insurance contracts. Created in 1982, the regime compensates victims of exceptional events such as floods or droughts.
France's Court of Auditors published a report on Friday highlighting how climate warming is straining the natural disaster compensation regime, known as Cat Nat. Activated in 99% of French communes, the system covers floods, marine submersion, droughts, heatwaves, and exceptional storms like Lothar in 1999.
Created in 1982 for exceptionally intense non-insurable events, Cat Nat relies on a surprime applied to all home insurance contracts, funded by national solidarity. Amid increasingly intense climate hazards, such as February floods in western France or droughts cracking houses, the Court recommends no longer covering risks that are "banalizing".
To sustain the regime, it also calls for regular reviews of this surprime. These measures aim to ensure the system's viability as disasters become more frequent.
