Barnier Fund (France)
French fund financing the prevention of major natural risks, fed by a levy on catastrophe insurance premiums.
The Barnier Fund, officially the fund for the prevention of major natural risks, is a French scheme intended to finance prevention and vulnerability-reduction measures against natural risks: expropriation of severely threatened property, protection works, studies, relocation of exposed populations. It is fed by a levy based on the natural catastrophe surcharge of property insurance contracts, directly linking the financing of indemnification to that of prevention. The fund embodies the principle that a sustainable pooling regime requires acting upstream on exposure and vulnerability, not just indemnifying downstream. For insurance, it fits the logic of a transition toward more preventive catastrophe risk management, as climate change increases losses and threatens the regime's balance. Its sizing and spending priorities are the subject of recurrent debate given the growing scale of needs.
Created by the French law of 2 February 1995, the Barnier Fund can finance the expropriation of homes in an unprotectable coastal flood zone, reducing the catastrophe regime's future exposure.
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