The influence of climate change on the life insurance in the EU: A panel data approach

Abstract

The financial sector, as one of the most sensitive economic sectors, is alert to all trends and changes in the environment. The aim of the article is to study the impact of climate change on the life insurance market using panel data from 28 countries of the European Union (EU) for the last 9 years. This study is based on a panel model, where the amount of premiums under life insurance contracts is defined as a function of the fundamental factor of climate change - greenhouse gas emissions. According to empirical findings, an increase in greenhouse gas emissions per thousand tons leads to an increase in the amount of life insurance premiums by 0.1786 million euros. It has also been found that an increase in greenhouse gas emissions per thousand tons leads to an increase in deaths in the European Union by 1.0442 people, and these consequences are statistically significant. In general, our results suggest that the life insurance market as well as the non-life insurance market is dependent on climate change. The empirical results of this study provide valuable insight into how greenhouse gas emissions affect mortality in the European Union.