climate

Significant insurance and reinsurance industry players are backing a new non-profit start-up that aims to drive forwards the development of an open standard for sharing climate data, with the goal of enabling better design and development of climate risk related financial products along with the use of artificial intelligence.

To reach the required levels of adaptation and increase the world’s resilience to climate change, parametric insurance is critical in order to manage the long-term impacts and the transition, according to Carl Hess, Head of Investment, Risk and Reinsurance at broker Willis Towers Watson (WTW).

The financial services sector, especially insurers and the commodity markets, can make better risk decisions thanks to increased scientific knowledge about the climate phenomena, El Niño and La Niña, according to a new research report commissioned from the Met Office by the Lighthill Risk Network.

A research paper due to be published this month in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society suggests that routine variations in the weather, such as rainfall and cooler or hotter than average days, can result in an annual cost to the U.S. economy of $485 billion.