The insurance industry is contributing significantly to building socio-economic resilience to climate change and supporting the transition to a low-carbon economy in their role as risk management experts and investors, although a number of challenges are hindering the industry’s efforts to scale up its contribution, according to a new research report from The Geneva Association, the leading international think tank of the insurance industry.

The Geneva Association, the leading international think tank of the insurance industry, has published in collaboration with the Insurance Development Forum (IDF) the paper Guidelines for Risk Assessment to Support Sovereign Risk Financing and Risk Transfer, which provide governments with a framework for conducting the risk assessment underpinning national risk transfer programmes.

Dr Maryam Golnaraghi, Director of Extreme Events and Climate Risk, discusses the new risk assessment guidelines for sovereign risk financing and transfer. Developed in collaboration with the Insurance Development Forum (IDF) on behalf of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR).

In light of the implications of our changing climate, The Geneva Association is calling on delegates now meeting in Warsaw for the United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties to recognise the importance of countrywide disaster risk reduction measures and risk-conscious urban planning and building standards. In a report published in June, the Association provided a series of case studies to show the effective forms of collaboration between governments and insurers that create greater physical and financial resilience from disasters.

Maryam Golnaraghi - Director of Extreme Events and Climate Risk, The Geneva Association - discusses the role of (re)insurance in the three international framework agreements to globally address the challenges presented by climate change.

Recorded at Climate Action 2016, Washington DC, 5-6 May 2016.

Professor Dame Julia Slingo, Chief Scientist UK Met Office and Senior Climate Advisor to UK Government and World Meteorological Office, discusses our changing weather, the science of modeling it and the importance of sharing MetOffice data with insurers.

Recorded at the 43rd General Assembly of The Geneva Association, Rome, 8-11 June 2016.

Dr Maryam Golnaraghi describes the implications of insurance being part of the recent Global Framework Agreement signed at COP21 in Paris.

Read the paper online:

COP21 Paris Agreement: What Does It Mean for the (Re)insurance Sector