With the winter on the horizon and horrific storms in the US, insurers are turning their attention to protecting people against the weather.

A new report reveals unpredictable weather is affecting the insurance industry’s ability to gauge risks.

A collective of the world’s biggest insurers has found the industry’s ability to manage risks is being threatened by climate change, as unpredictable weather events disrupt the patterns which would be used to predict an asset’s risk.

And there’s worse – the gap between the amount people are covered for and the cost of natural disasters has rocketed to almost £80billion a year in the past 40 years.

Put simply, it’s leaving some assets previously insurable, uninsurable.

The catastrophic financial losses from Hurricane Maria have been making headlines recently, leaving insurers with the difficult challenge of making sure people are adequately covered. In this country, the ice and snow of winter also brings lesser, but still significant challenges in making sure business are adequately covered.

But it’s not a simple case of increasing premiums or withdrawing cover. Industry experts have warned against that.

A more measured, sensible approach would be to convince policymakers of the need to step up attempts to tackle climate change. Insurers also need to work with clients to make their assets more resilient to extreme weather – both in this country and abroad.