Climate change in everyday life: How to protect your home from extreme weather!

Climate change in everyday life: How to protect your home from extreme weather!

Deutschland - The climate crisis has long since become a reality and represents a major challenge for society. How Oekonews has often been raised as a vage. In particular, the safety of your own home is often neglected in times of increasing weather extremes. However, protection through household insurance is fundamental to secure your own home against the growing risks.

In recent years, the number of damage reports caused by climate -related events has almost doubled. This damage amounts to billions and increasingly affect regions that were previously considered safe. The climate zone in Central Europe is changing, which has a direct impact on the private living area. Constructions therefore play an increasingly important role. Experts recommend measures such as backstas flaps, waterproof basement windows and drainage systems as well as lightning protection systems.

growing awareness of insurance and prevention

Regular maintenance and review of these preventive measures is crucial to ensure effectiveness. Modern household insurance should therefore also offer protection against elementary damage and be adapted to the changed conditions. Flexible insurance products are becoming increasingly important for owners of living space who want to protect themselves against the new dangers.

The GDV (overall association of the German insurance industry) emphasizes that comprehensive information on natural hazards is necessary to enable adjustments to the consequences of climate change. In an analysis, the GDV found that weather -related damage has increased in recent decades and that this tendency will continue in the future. A significant threat is particularly heavy, since it causes the most damage and can occur anywhere in Germany.

changes in insurance density

The occurrence of floods and other extreme weather events mean that the insurance density in different federal states varies greatly. The insurance density in Baden-Württemberg is 94 percent, while in 2023 several federal states, including North Rhine-Westphalia and Thuringia, have exceeded the 50 percent mark. In addition, the Zürs Geo-System supports the insurers to effectively evaluate the risk of flooding from buildings by dividing over 22 million addresses into four hazard classes.

The financial consequences of natural hazards are enormous. In 2023, the damage caused by such events in property and vehicle insurance amounted to around 5.6 billion euros. Jörg Asmussen, General Manager of the GDV, emphasizes the need for courageous measures to protect against new climate conditions. So far, society has been insufficiently prepared for the accumulation of this natural phenomena.

forecasts for the future

The forecasts indicate that damage caused by climate change consequences could at least be doubled by 2050. The consideration of the water sensitivity of infrastructure, buildings and cities is therefore the main focus of the natural hazard report 2023. In comprehensive data collections, numerous findings on the damage through natural hazards are recorded. This information is not only important for insurers, but also serve research on adaptation strategies to climate change, such as gdv.de

The goal remains clear: Germany must intensify its efforts to achieve the Paris climate goals and at the same time ensure solid protection against the consequences of climate change.