Natural Hazards, Prevention, and the Limits of Insurability in Building Insurance

Climate change is increasing the pressure to act in the building insurance sector. Extreme weather events such as heavy rain, flooding, storms, and hail are occurring more frequently and with greater intensity; claims patterns are becoming more volatile, and risk assessments more complex. For insurers, this is no longer just a matter of claims settlement, but rather a question of how Residential and Commercial Building Insurance remains viable under changing risk conditions.

How can natural hazards be better measured, priced, and managed? What role do prevention, data quality, reinsurance, and portfolio management play? And where will the limits of insurability lie in the future?

At the NatCat Topic Day, we’ll take a practical look at natural hazards, prevention, and the future of building insurance. The focus will be on the question: How can insurers deal with increasing natural hazards—and how can building insurance remain risk-appropriate, affordable, reinsurable, and marketable to customers?

Optional morning activity: Experience prevention firsthand

Before the main program, we are offering an optional outdoor session on flood and heavy rain prevention. Together with Ingo Schwerdorf from the Cologne Municipal Sewerage Authority, AöR The focus is on local prevention: What role does the government play, what does taking personal precautions mean for building owners—and how can insurers help build greater resilience? A brief tour of the flood exhibition is also planned.

Participation is must be registered separately. The meeting point is at the LRH / the bridgehead of the Deutz Bridge.

The main program starts at 11:15 a.m. at the InsurLab Germany office and can also be attended independently of the external event.

REGISTER NOW FOR THE OPTIONAL KICK-OFF EVENT

Why this Topic Day is important now

NatCat is not just a matter of claims or climate change, but a strategic issue for the future of building insurance. Addressing natural hazards involves product design, pricing, prevention, data, reinsurance, portfolio and cumulative risk management, as well as communication with sales teams and customers. The Topic Day provides a professional framework for bringing these perspectives together: from concrete prevention measures to data and risk assessment, all the way to product logic, reinsurability, and the limits of insurability.

What you can expect

The focus is on professional exchange and tangible added value. The Topic Day is not an open pitch event, but a curated professional forum. The event follows a clear structure:

- Experiencing Prevention: Optional kickoff event for flood and heavy rain prevention in the local community.
- Understanding the problem: Overview of Natural Hazards, Climate, and Damage Trends.
- Making Risk Measurable: Classification of data, models, ZÜRS, geodata, heavy rainfall maps, and building data.
- Pricing and Managing Risk: Insights on risk-based pricing, affordability, deductibles, adverse selection, and incentives for prevention.
- Translate "Product and Prevention": Discussion on coverage strategies, prevention approaches, and communication with sales teams and customers.
- Classify the limits of insurability: Strategic analysis of reinsurance, portfolio and cumulative risk management, natural disaster coverage, and private-sector limits.

Target group

The Topic Day is aimed in particular at executives and specialists from insurance companies who work in the areas of residential or commercial property insurance, product development, pricing and actuarial science, underwriting, portfolio management, reinsurance, prevention, strategy and innovation, sales, or communications. In addition, the event is aimed at selected service providers, startups, and scale-ups with specific expertise in prevention, data, risk analysis, modeling, geodata, building data, portfolio and cumulative risk management, or customer and sales communication.

Of course, it can happen that one is prevented despite interest. Therefore a request: If you have registered for one of our events but are unable to attend, please cancel as early as possible by sending an e-mail to connect@insurlab-germany.com. In this way we can further optimize our planning, allow interested parties to participate and save costs for catering etc. We thank you for your understanding!

Film and sound recordings as well as photos will be taken at the event. By registering for the event, you agree to their use, including at a later date.