Reflections on the Current Debate on How to Link Flood Insurance and Disaster Risk Reduction in the European Union

S. Surminski, J.C.J.H. Aerts, Wouter Botzen, P. Hudson, J. Mysiak and C. D. Pérez-Blanco

No 204327, Climate Change and Sustainable Development from Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM)

Abstract: Flood insurance differs widely in scope and form across Europe. Against the backdrop of rising flood losses a debate about the role of EU policy in shaping the future of this compensation tool is led by policy makers and industry. In this paper we investigate if and how current EU policies influence flood insurance. While the question of supply and demand is at the core of the debate, we argue that another key dimension is often overlooked: how to use insurance as a lever for risk reduction and prevention efforts. We investigate if and how current EU policies interplay with these two dimensions and then reflect on the national policy level, by illustrating two conflicting cases of flood insurance: the United Kingdom (UK), where flood insurance provision is widely available, but subject to current reform, and the Netherlands, where efforts to introduce flood insurance have only recently failed. In analysing the current positions on the role of the EU in shaping flood insurance we conclude that there is wide agreement that harmonisation of flood insurance offering across the EU is unlikely to be effective. We conclude that there is clear scope for the EU to play a greater role in linking risk transfer and prevention, beyond existing channels, to ensure an integrated approach to flood risk management across the EU.

Keywords: Environmental; Economics; and; Policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 38
Date: 2015-05-12
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (20)

Downloads: (external link)
https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/204327/files/NDL2015-041.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Reflections on the current debate on how to link flood insurance and disaster risk reduction in the European Union (2015)
Working Paper: Reflections on the Current Debate on How to Link Flood Insurance and Disaster Risk Reduction in the European Union (2015)
Working Paper: Reflection on the current debate on how to link flood insurance and disaster risk reduction in the European Union (2014)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:feemcl:204327

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.204327

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Climate Change and Sustainable Development from Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM) Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by AgEcon Search ().