22 September 2019: A global insurance initiative to boost climate change resilience for 20 of the most vulnerable countries was launched on the sidelines of the UN Secretary-General’s Climate Action Summit 2019.
The initiative brings together commitments by the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) and the Insurance Development Forum (IDF) with the aim of substantially scaling up the use of prearranged risk finance and insurance mechanisms as part of global resilience and adaptation efforts.
The initiative also seeks to contribute to Vision 2025 of the InsuResilience Global Partnership, which aims to provide coverage to 500 million individuals against disaster and climate shocks, and contribute to a rise in the percentage of annual climate and disaster losses covered by risk finance and insurance.
Speaking at the launch event, UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner emphasized UNDP’s commitment to “markedly increase” its risk financing and insurance portfolio, while mainstreaming the fundamentals of risk, and risk-financing into key development processes.
Denis Duverne, Chairman of IDF and insurance firm AXA, reiterated the role of the insurance sector in helping to inform climate resilience and adaptation, affirming the insurance partnership’s commitment to not only boost re/insurance capacity, but also to develop and share openly accessible climate risk modelling platforms and ecosystem infrastructure with countries that need it the most. IDF subsequently launched its Practical Guide to Insuring Public Assets for use at country level.
Other commitments announced at the launch include:
- A UNDP, BMZ and IDF public-private partnership (PPP) to provide technical assistance and risk solutions, offering up to USD 5 billion in total insurance capacity for 20 climate vulnerable countries;
- A joint UNDP/BMZ initiative to support UNDP’s work on inclusive insurance in seven countries from 2020 to 2023;
- Increasing Germany’s existing commitment of EUR 450 million for the expansion of climate insurance and risk financing with an additional EUR 20 million to enhance cooperation with multilateral partners; and
- A new contribution of USD 110 million by the UK to the Global Risk Financing Facility (GRIF).
The IDF is a PPP led by the re/insurance industry and supported by international organizations. The IDF was first announced at the Paris Climate Change Conference in 2015 and officially launched by leaders of the UN, the World Bank and the insurance industry in 2016. [UNDP Press Release] [SDG Knowledge Hub Story on Climate Action Summit] [SDG Knowledge Hub Story on Coalition for Climate Resilient Investment]