A new record was set in 2022 for climate-related extreme weather general insurance claims at $351.22 million.  

“While this new record has already been smashed by the twin climate disasters of the Auckland Anniversary Weekend floods and Cyclone Gabrielle, they should not though detract from the clear pattern of rising climate claims in what we consider normal years,” said Insurance Council of New Zealand Te Kāhui Inihua o Aotearoa (ICNZ) Chief Executive, Tim Grafton.

Last year marked the third consecutive year where a new record was set; up from $324 million in 2021 and $274 million in 2020. Today’s announcement comes as final claims data for November 2022’s extreme weather was released: 1,980 claims worth $21.57 m.

It should be remembered that Aotearoa New Zealand was already facing a triple challenge arsing from a very well-established trend of climate-related extreme weather events becoming both more frequent and severe even before this year’s disasters.   

“While insurance is there for many people and assets, the first issue is the risks and losses associated with people’s safety and the environment. Then, as we saw throughout 2022, and into this year, there are the under or uninsured losses to property, businesses, farm infrastructure, land, crops orchards and livestock, to land of cultural significance and the risk of community breakup following a major event and all the social and economic hardship that comes with that. This is not just about insurance,” said Tim.

“Secondly, ICNZ’s numbers don’t capture the full financial costs of such events such as EQCover payouts, and the cost of putting right critical infrastructure such as damaged roading, three waters, telecommunications and energy systems. This is typically far higher than reported general insurance claims.

“The third challenge we already faced was to move with urgency on making our communities much more resilient. That message has been rammed home by recent events.

“While the focus is on much more recent disasters, they are exceptional events within a well-established trend. We must look beyond Auckland and Hawke’s Bay and prepare the nation for what we know accelerating climate change will bring.”

ENDS – KA MUTU
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