The climate crisis is already wreaking havoc in the UK – and it’s only just begun

Climate crisis extreme weather has been wreaking havoc in the UK, causing home insurance claims to shoot up to record levels.

It reveals that the crisis is already coming home to roost for communities across the nation. However, the government isn’t doing enough about it.

Climate-driven claims hit new heights

On Monday 15 April, the Association of British Insurers (ABI) said that storm-damage related insurance claims had soared to a record level last year.

Specifically, ABI highlighted that weather-related damage claims reached £573m in 2023. This was up 36% on 2022.

ABI said that:

This massive rise was largely fuelled by the succession of storms, including Babet, Ciaran and Debi that struck last autumn

Notably, homeowners made claims for storm damage totalling £133m. Meanwhile flooding added £286 million. On top of this, house owners made further weather claims of £153m from burst pipes.

Alongside this, businesses incurred £443m in weather damage claims last year. Fire remained “the primary peril to businesses”, with claims for such damage reaching £880m.

In March, reinsurance giant Swiss Re warned that insured property losses could double worldwide in the coming decade owing to the climate crisis. In particular, more frequent and intense severe weather events would cause this. As well as this, the Zurich-based group also highlighted the rising costs from hailstorms.

In its annual overview of the cost of disasters and natural catastrophes, Swiss Re said that natural disasters caused US $280bn in damage worldwide in 2023. This included US $108bn covered by insurance companies.

Fund climate ‘insurance’

Of course, this news follows hot on the heels of a damning assessment by the UK’s foremost government advisor.

As the Canary reported in March, the Committee on Climate Change slammed the UK government for not doing to help communities adapt to the impacts of the climate crisis. Naturally, this included its failure to help prepare the UK for climate crisis-driven extreme weather disasters like flooding, extreme heat, and water scarcity.

Meanwhile, a separate report in January honed in on London. In this, climate charity Ashden highlighted how London and the UK are “under-prepared” for climate crisis-fueled extreme weather impacts.

However, as Ashden pointed out, there are innovative climate adaptation solutions that communities across the nation are already implementing. These include natural solutions like restoring wetlands, home energy efficiency measures, and redesigning homes for future climate resilience. So, as the Canary argued:

Making changes to protect communities is undoubtedly an investment in the future. Funding our own climate ‘insurance’ by setting up protective initiatives is crucial to building our resilience to the changing circumstances and increasing energy costs we will all face.

Invariably, as  the climate crisis intensifies, climate-driven house insurance claims will likely continue to mount. Therefore the UK government needs to get its ass in gear and fund these vital climate ‘insurance’ solutions to help communities. And vitally, it needs to do so before private insurance companies start getting cold feet.

Feature image via Youtube – Channel 4 News

Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse