European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority proposes PROTECT EU-wide natural catastrophe risk awareness and prevention tool for property owners

The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) has put forward a proposal for PROTECT, a natural catastrophe risk awareness and prevention tool intended to help residential and commercial property owners understand how extreme weather events could affect their buildings and what actions they can take to reduce vulnerability and potential losses. PROTECT is envisaged as a consumer-centric tool available to all European citizens, combining a risk score with practical, layered guidance. It would provide tailored prevention measures for relevant perils across the phases before, during and after events, highlight insurance-related considerations such as exclusion clauses, limits and deductibles and the features of national schemes where applicable, and offer insights into how prevention measures could positively affect risk-based insurance premiums. EIOPA argues that while many awareness tools exist, none provides Europe-wide data and few combine mitigation advice with practical, actionable solutions and explanations of potential insurance implications. EIOPA suggests PROTECT could be used at key decision points such as when purchasing or developing a property or when taking out insurance coverage, as part of wider efforts to support insurance availability and affordability and reduce protection gaps.