FERMA welcomes EC climate proposals

FERMA has submitted its response to the European Commission’s consultation on the upcoming European Climate Resilience Framework, expected in Q4 2026. FERMA welcomes the Commission’s ambition to create a coordinated and forward-looking approach to climate resilience across the EU, urging the adoption of a more collaborative model spanning governments, insurers, capital markets and businesses.

Across Europe, climate change is driving rising losses and disruption through more frequent heatwaves, droughts, and heavy rainfall. Physical impacts and transition pressures from regulation, carbon pricing, energy costs, and market shifts have become material enterprise risks. At enterprise level, risk managers are on the frontline, playing a central role in anticipating natural hazards, strengthening resilience, and identifying emerging opportunities.

FERMA stresses, however, that climate-related risks cannot be managed by companies alone. While risk managers are already integrating these risks into enterprise risk management and business continuity planning, true resilience requires coordinated actions at EU, national, and local levels.

Laurent Nihoul, chief executive of FERMA, commented: “Natural catastrophes are systemic risks that no single actor can absorb alone. As climate-related events grow in frequency and severity, effective Public-Private Partnerships are no longer optional. Governments, insurers, capital markets and businesses must work together to pool risk, share data and align incentives for prevention. Innovative tools can stabilise insurance capacity, close protection gaps and, most importantly, reward resilience investments before disasters strike. A collaborative model is the only sustainable way to respond to NATCAT risks.”

Key recommendations from FERMA include:

• Reliable Climate Data: Access to consistent and localised climate data is critical. FERMA welcomes the Commission’s plan for a user-friendly EU climate risk platform that translates EU scenarios into local projections. This tool will support businesses, insurers, and public authorities, especially SMEs, in making informed adaptation decisions.

• Resilience by Design: Climate risk screening and stress testing should become standard in public procurement, infrastructure planning, and EU-funded projects. Critical infrastructure, including energy, water, transport, digital systems, and healthcare, must be resilient to future climate conditions.

• Closing the Insurance Gap through to the involvement of insurers, risk managers and brokers: Only about 25% of climate-related losses in Europe are currently insured, while premiums rise and capacity tightens. FERMA supports a European public-private reinsurance mechanism, as proposed by the European Central Bank and the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority, to pool risks, stabilise capacity, and operate as a last-resort safety net. Prevention and resilient investment should remain the first line of protection, with insurance as a complementary second layer.

• Exploring and streamlining new tools to attract prevention financing: such as catastrophe bonds, public-private partnerships and blended finance.

• Investing in predictive modelling, digital twins, resilient infrastructure technologies, and innovative risk-transfer solutions can make European companies global leaders in resilience solutions. Achieving this requires stable regulations, clear policy signals, and scaled-up resilience finance.

FERMA believes climate resilience must be a core pillar of Europe’s economic and social stability. A harmonised framework, strong governance, accessible data, and effective public-private risk-sharing are essential to ensure Europe is prepared for tomorrow’s climate.

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