Insuring against natural disasters: The impacts of climate change on reinsurance and insurance-linked securities

Climate change has many consequences on the society in which we live. In particular, one of its effects is the increase in intensity and frequency of natural disasters. Therefore, it constitutes a significant threat for insurance companies. In order to insure their policyholders against these climatic catastrophes, insurance companies mainly use two financial mechanisms, namely reinsurance and insurance-linked securities. The first mechanism consists in insuring themselves with private companies. The second mechanism provides insurers with access to financing from investors in the capital markets. The objective of my thesis is to understand how climate change will impact reinsurance and insurance-linked securities in the coming years. Among the most significant results of my research, we note a long-term growth in price and capacity for these two instruments.