EIOPA published a report on 30 September 2026 assessing climate-related risk for life and health insurers and occupational pension providers. The report identifies extreme heat as the leading climate-related liability risk for the sectors.
EIOPA Flags Extreme Heat as the Leading Climate Liability Risk
The report identifies extreme heat as the leading climate-related liability risk for the sectors.
Heatwaves Are Already Europe’s Deadliest Climate Hazard
Heatwaves are already the deadliest climate-related hazard in Europe. Since 2000, they have been responsible for around 300,000 deaths across the continent—about 97% of all fatalities linked to extreme weather and climate events. The estimate appears in the full report published by EIOPA.
Scientists expect heatwaves to increase in frequency, intensity and duration over the coming decades, with heat-related deaths in extreme scenarios potentially reaching COVID-19-like levels.
A New Risk-Scoring Framework Singles Out Health and Income-Protection Lines
EIOPA developed an illustrative risk-scoring framework to estimate the impact of heatwaves on different types of undertakings, lines of business and countries. The methodology is based on hazard, vulnerability and exposure metrics and largely aligns with EIOPA’s methodology for measuring non-life insurers’ underwriting exposure to physical climate change risk.
The most impacted lines of business are projected to be medical expense insurance, income protection insurance and workers’ compensation insurance in the non-life segment and similar-to-life health insurance and other non-participating life insurance in the life segment. For individual portfolios, impacts will be highly product- and portfolio-specific, as climate change may affect mortality, morbidity and longevity risks in a non-uniform way depending on the specific characteristics of the products.
Own Funds Exposure Builds Even as Current Financial Impact Stays Contained
While current financial impacts remain limited due to offsetting factors, widespread public-sector healthcare coverage and portfolio diversification, the risks are expected to increase in the coming decades. Heatwaves are likely to negatively affect the own funds of insurers through products exposed to mortality and health-related risks, while longevity adjustments may partially offset these effects.
Beyond mortality, more frequent wildfires and the potential spread of vector-borne diseases such as dengue and malaria could also affect population health.
In a separate development, InsuraBeat has covered modeling done by Allianz Trade on German heat exposure.
EIOPA Urges Insurers to Fold Heat Risk into Holistic Climate Assessments
EIOPA encourages insurers to incorporate these emerging risks into their climate risk assessments holistically, reflecting both direct and broader indirect macroeconomic impacts, as their materiality is expected to increase over time.
« climate change also has quieter, less visible consequences—ones that show up more forcefully in statistics than in photographs. … The impact of heatwaves on human health is one of them, and our preliminary study shows that it could become a material risk factor for certain insurance lines and pension providers… »
Petra Hielkema, Chair, EIOPA
EIOPA set the recommendation alongside the complete findings EIOPA published alongside the framework.
In a separate development, InsuraBeat has also reported on the EIOPA dashboard tracking risk across pension funds. In a separate development, InsuraBeat has covered recent changes to Solvency II reporting requirements. The underlying findings remain available where EIOPA sets out the full assessment, alongside the heat-risk methodology summarised above.
