[REPLAY] The political stakes of insurability

On January 13, at Sciences Po, the Chaire PARI organized its annual conference dedicated to the political dimensions of insurability.

Moderated by Laurence Barry, the roundtable brought together:

• Pascal Demurger, CEO of the MAIF group
• Philippe Guyonnet Dupérat, Deputy Director for Insurance at the Directorate General of the Treasury

👉 Watch the replay: https://lnkd.in/ecr54vez

Insurance: a political device

Because it organizes solidarity between individuals exposed to different risks, insurance is not only a technical or financial mechanism. It is a deeply political instrument.

When certain risks become difficult to insure, the issue goes beyond economic considerations: it questions the nature and strength of the solidarity ties that structure a society.

The CatNat regime facing the climate challenge

At the heart of the discussion was the CatNat (natural disaster) regime, which brings together insurers and the State around principles of solidarity and responsibility.

This historically robust model is now weakened by climate change.

On one side, some insurers warn about the system’s limits in the face of:

• increasing claims,
• geographical concentration of risks,
• growing granularity of predictive models.

On the other side, public authorities seek to maintain a high level of collective protection in a context of increasing budget constraints.

Market, State, solidarity: how should they interact?

The roundtable debated two central questions:

• What role should market mechanisms play in covering emerging risks?
• How should public intervention be balanced with the economic sustainability of the system?

The challenge is twofold: preserving insured protection while ensuring the financial sustainability of the system.

A debate at the heart of risk transformation

As climate change profoundly reshapes the risk landscape, insurability becomes a lens through which tensions between solidarity, individual responsibility, and economic viability can be understood.

This conference sheds light on the collective trade-offs shaping the future of the French insurance model.

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