Ubezpieczenia od katastrof naturalnych jako istotny element zrównoważonego rozwoju

Extreme weather events cause economic, social and environmental loss. In this way they significantly affect on the sustainable development, therefore, damages compensatory tools, such as catastrophic weather insurance are so important. One of the biggest problems of insurance companies are catastrophic damages. This problem began to grow rapidly in recent years. The complexity and focus on relatively small fi elds of human activities, the growth of wealth of societies, as well as the absolute increase in the numbers of natural disasters (earthquakes, hurricanes, floods) are the reason why the catastrophic damage cost the insurance industry more and more. The insurance market plays a special role in fi nancing the repair of the eff ects of natural disasters due to the builtin compensation of loss, claims handling system developed (determining the amount of damages and the amount of compensation used) and the emphasis on prevention. However, due to the potential risk of huge compensation, the state should initiate the formation of poly insurance or provide a guarantee of payment of compensation. Analyzing this topic, we should remember about social attitudes towards catastrophic insurance. Despite awareness of the adverse effects of extreme weather, society does not undertake any hedging activities. The reason for this passive attitude is the belief in inevitable nature of weather and lack of knowledge of available instruments.