How are insurers supporting clients with climate risks?

When it comes to climate risk, it is becoming increasingly expected that an insurer’s role extends beyond just providing coverage. Insurers can proactively support clients in the face of climate change — from helping them understand the impact of climate events on supply chains to meeting climate-related reporting requirements.

Over the last few years, insurers have been creating new tools to support their clients. For example, Swiss Re Corporate Solutions launched Risk Data & Services (RDS) in 2022 to support corporates with risk management. It currently offers solutions around property exposure management, sustainability and supply chain resilience.

HDI Global is helping clients to meet their climate-related regulatory requirements. The insurer has recently launched its ‘Climate Risk Reporting’ solution, which enables companies to analyse their physical climate risks and assess them according to the EU Taxonomy guidelines. The solution uses climate data from Mitiga Solutions’ EarthScan tool.

It’s not just corporate clients that insurers are looking to support within climate risk and sustainability. AXA Ireland has created ‘Go Green’: a platform that provides homeowners with tailored retrofit suggestions to improve sustainability and reduce energy costs. The calculator module is powered by technology company Gamma Risk.

We expect to see insurers release more tools like this over the coming years. Some will build them in-house, whilst others will work with technology and data partners. There is an increasing opportunity for companies with strong expertise within climate data and technology to work with insurers on these types of initiatives — we’re excited to see more collaboration in this space.

Swiss Re: Making society more resilient – using new data to close the protection gap

Launched two years ago, Swiss Re Reinsurance Solutions provides tools and services spanning the entire insurance value chain. Robin Merttens spoke to CEO of Reinsurance Solutions, Russell Higginbotham, about approaching climate-related risks within property insurance and providing well-designed products to close protection gaps.

Apollo: supporting sustainable innovation

We recently spoke to Hayley Budd, Innovation Class Leader at Apollo ibott 1971, to learn about the syndicate’s approach to innovation. Hayley discussed what the team looks for when supporting MGAs and other organisations, including the importance of ESG-related products. Apollo sees the potential for new products in a range of areas, including carbon credits.

McKenzie Intelligence Services: Innovation and the insurtech journey – are we there yet?

McKenzie Intelligence Services (MIS) helps accelerate disaster relief and economic recovery for insurers. Matthew Grant spoke to Rosina Smith, Chief Product Officer at MIS, who shares insights from her MBA dissertation’s findings on the adoption of technology in insurance. She highlights the need for collaboration across insurance to effectively address protection gaps.

Webinar: A decade of discovery – 5 key developments in flood risk modelling

JBA Risk Management has been providing insurers with global flood maps for over a decade. Join us on 23rd May to explore the most important technological developments that have occurred during this time – including the use of artificial intelligence and heightened computing power – to see what this means for the insurance industry’s understanding of flood risk.

KatRisk: High-speed, high-resolution catastrophe modelling

KatRisk provides global inland flood, storm surge and windstorm loss assessments for some of the largest insurers, reinsurers and brokers in the world. Matthew Grant caught up with Dag Lohmann and Brandon Katz on the company’s development and the challenges that come with modelling correlated risks such as tornadoes, tornadoes, straight-line winds and more.

Print with purpose: how insurers can reduce internal emissions

The insurance industry has an important role to play in encouraging a more sustainable future — from supporting clients with their energy transition strategies to investing in greener technology, such as renewable energy projects. Whilst there are broad considerations to be had around sustainability, taking action often begins in the office.

In the news…  

Gamma Risk launches UK retrofit calculator tool

Gamma Risk has developed EPCWOW, a retrofit energy efficiency calculator for banks, insurance companies and energy providers. The solution can be white-labelled, allowing organisations to better support their customers through enabling them to understand both the financial and energy savings benefits of home upgrades. The Irish version of this tool, BERWOW, has been used by clients such as AXA.

Addresscloud and JBA partner for European flood risk

Property intelligence provider Addresscloud has partnered with JBA Risk Management to map the flood risk of over 280 million buildings across mainland Europe. Insurers, reinsurers and brokers will now be able to quickly assess flood risk at a single address or across large portfolios.

Arbol raises $60m in Series B

The funding will support Arbol’s expansion into new markets such as agriculture and renewable energy — areas which are particularly vulnerable to climate risks yet underserved by traditional insurance products. The funding will also facilitate the company’s global expansion, allowing it to offer P&C insurance solutions in the US and internationally.

S&P: Brazil flooding to increase demand for catastrophic risk protection

With heavy rain starting on April 28th, Brazil’s southern state of Rio Grande do Sul was hit by the worst flood in the past 80 years. AM Best estimates the economic losses from this flooding to equate to $1.45 billion USD. A new report from S&P Global Ratings suggests that this flood event may increase demand for catastrophic risk coverage, likely pushing up prices and premiums.

Tokio Marine dR to use Fathom’s global flood data

Fathom’s global flood data will be accessed by Tokio Marine dR through its API software, enabling users to retrieve Fathom’s data for a specific point, area or portfolio depending on their requirements. Multiple layers can also be selected, depending on the type of flood risk, depth and return period under a range of climate scenarios.

CelsiusPro: climate risk insurance for women in India

CelsiusPro’s Global Parametrics team has developed a climate risk insurance product in partnership with MHT, Howden and Go Digit Insurance. It will offer financial protection against extreme heatwaves for women working in the informal sector in India. The coverage will use risk capacity from the Natural Disaster Fund (a blend of public and private capital to support new insurance products).

reThought Flood joins AAIS Partner Program

The American Association of Insurance Services (AAIS) has announced that reThought Flood will be joining its Partner Program. reThought Flood will offer AAIS members its approach to pricing flood risk that uses multiple models for a more accurate assessment of risk. You can learn more about reThought’s approach to underwriting flood in this InsTech webinar.

Swiss Re: Europe to be impacted by climate change induced hazard intensification

According to Swiss Re, Europe is one of the regions identified as being most impacted by climate change induced hazard intensification. Of the four major perils it analysed, Swiss Re found that on aggregate, global flooding will intensify the most, followed by tropical cyclones, winter storms in Europe and severe convective storms. Learn more in Swiss Re’s report released earlier this year.

Previsico and UDlive partner for flood risk management

Flood forecaster Previsico and UDlive, a sensor technology company, have formally announced their partnership. The partnership is underpinned by several years of close collaboration and will continue to support the development and delivery of hardware and software solutions across the sectors that Previsico serves.