Homeowners Battle Insurers Over $2.9 Trillion Climate Risk

When Bernard Weisse first noticed a tiny crack in the outer wall of his house on the outskirts of Paris, he dismissed it as little more than a nuisance. But in the four years since, a spiderweb of fissures has spread from floor to ceiling and snaked into virtually every corner of his home.

“We can hear loud cracking noises especially when it’s warm outside,” said the retired salesman and father of three. “Sometimes, I think we should get all our stuff together and leave.”

Like a growing number of people around the world, Weisse is grappling with subsidence — a term ...