As Europe breaks record temperatures, many actors need to work together to build climate resilience, with the insurance and reinsurance industry acting as “risk translators” to help unite fragmented adaptation efforts, CUO P&C Re Gianfranco Lot highlighted at Swiss Re’s inaugural Swiss Resilience Day.
The summit, held at Swiss Re’s Global Dialogue Center in Ruschlikon, Switzerland, marked the official launch of the reinsurer’s “Resilient Switzerland” initiative.
The launch comes at a critical time for the Alpine country, which is warming significantly faster than European and global averages, data released at the summit showed.
Lott pointed out that Switzerland has historically been known as one of the most stable economies in the world, but its infrastructure and public services face serious vulnerabilities.
“Swiss teachers’ unions have called for solutions to overheating of classrooms and traffic delays caused by high temperatures deforming rail tracks; however, it is clear that the heat Switzerland is experiencing today is not just the arrival of summer as we previously knew it. The data tells us that things have changed: hot days exceeding 30°C have increased from about 5 per year in 1990 to about 10-15 today,” the executive said.
Changes in temperature have triggered severe systemic shocks across multiple asset classes. For example, infrastructure has been affected, with extreme heat deforming rail tracks, cracking highways, and even forcing the Beznau nuclear power plant to cut power generation.
The Bratton Rock and Ice avalanche in May 2025 has also been linked to rising temperatures, which scientists believe may be related to melting permafrost. The incident resulted in insured losses of approximately CHF 320 million.
In addition, heat-related complications currently cost the Swiss hospital system approximately CHF 20.6 million per year, and according to Lot, this number will increase.
“Risks such as extreme heat are complex, which illustrates why resilience can no longer be built in silos,” the executive said.
Add to:”[Heat] This is a risk because the burden is often not evenly shared. This is a governance risk because effective adaptation to extreme heat depends on decisions made at different levels of responsibility.
“At Swiss Re, we have spent more than 160 years analyzing risk. Our Swiss roots combined with a global perspective give us an opportunity and a responsibility: to help make risks more visible, comparable and actionable. We therefore believe we can play a role in strengthening Switzerland’s resilience by helping the right stakeholders and decision-makers find each other.”
Lot emphasized that while adaptation measures must be implemented locally by municipalities, local actors cannot shoulder the financial or analytical burden alone.
“While resilience is built locally – municipalities have close relationships with people, and infrastructure and public spaces are most affected – it cannot be undertaken solely by local actors. They need to be supported by strong partners, available data and a language of shared risk,” he said.
While reinsurers cannot solve hot spots on their own, risk transfer, risk modeling and price signals from insurance that help quantify risk can all support prevention, adaptation and recovery.
Lot concluded: “Resilience is an ongoing task, one that is never finished. From our discussions in Ruschlikon to municipalities across the country, the next step is to translate our growing understanding into common action.”
