Original text here from Patrice Bernard (LinkedIn)
Because prevention is the foremost means of combating the impacts of climate change on their business, three French insurers — together with two specialist partners — are pooling their efforts to develop a shared platform designed to help individuals and companies reduce their exposure to climate hazards.
The increasing frequency of weather events that were once exceptional — droughts, floods, storms — is now an undeniable reality, and it is dangerously affecting insurers’ ability to fulfill their mission of covering damage to buildings. While they cannot influence how often claims occur, they can at least work to limit the financial consequences, thereby preserving the continued viability of insurance.
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With the platform Geoya, Generali France, MAIF, and Société Générale Assurances, in partnership with damage assessment specialist Saretec and adaptation consultant Sixsense, aim to tackle this challenge together. The goal is to provide operational support to the more than 5 million customers of the three founding partners for diagnosing threats to their homes, factories, warehouses, offices, and other premises, and for defining and implementing solutions.
In practice, individual homeowners and SMEs will be offered a self-diagnosis tool that delivers a reliable analysis of their property’s vulnerabilities. If necessary — or at their request — this can be complemented by a virtual or on-site expert visit to refine results.
The report they receive will not only give them a clear state of risk, but also a list of concrete measures to be taken, along with estimated costs for the recommended work.
Larger organizations will benefit from closer support, including, if needed, in-depth on-site studies, customized remediation plans, and help with project management. In all cases, applicants will also receive assistance in accessing the public subsidies and financing for which they are eligible. However, official communications do not specify the pricing terms for Geoya’s services.
Initially, the platform will focus exclusively on flood risk — which today represents the largest cost of natural disaster claims — on behalf of the three co-founding insurers. It is intended to be opened, via a subscription model, to other companies in the sector that are interested, and later to cover additional areas of exposure, such as swelling clay soils and all types of storms.
While the collaborative approach is positive and essential for prevention, the author notes a certain surprise at this form of cooperation — suggesting that the theme is perceived as a shared burden to be managed collectively for economic efficiency, even though it could also be tackled as a competitive differentiator, perhaps in how it is integrated with insurance products themselves.
