Italian insurers paid out a record €6 billion in claims linked to damage caused by natural disasters last year as the impact of the climate crisis in the country continued to become more dramatic, a top industry executive said on Tuesday.
Maria Bianca Farina, Presiden of the Italian Association of Insurance Companies (ANIA) told the insurance association’s assembly that the given figures included some €800 million paid out in relation to last year’s deadly floods in Emilia-Romagna and Tuscany.
Italian new agency ANSA quoted her as saying, “In 2023, the worldwide insurance industry paid out almost €100 billion for claims related to natural disasters. In Italy, there was the all-time maximum of insured damages: more than €6six billion, including €65.5 billion caused by atmospheric events.”
Farina stressed that climate change is a crucial challenge. “We are witnessing increasingly extreme, frequent and destructive natural disasters, which put more and more people and property at risk”.