Climate change & climate risk related news

Research from the Swiss Re Institute finds that countries are at risk of higher property damage losses as a result of climate change, with the United States and the Philippines likely to be hardest hit as certain hazards intensify.

Lauren Crane, analyst in the Insurance-Linked Strategies team at Neuberger Berman, suggests that the extreme perception of climate change may “present an opportunity rather than a threat” to the ILS market.

The Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA) has laid out its plans for 2024, with Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Craig Swan highlighting specific opportunities in parametric risk transfer for climate insurance.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum event in Davos, Switzerland this week, Rafal Modrzewski, CEO and Co-Founder of ICEYE explained the important role satellite technology and the data it can collect has for the global insurance and reinsurance market, as well as societal resilience.

In a perhaps surprising turn of events, the opening hours of the COP28 climate talks today have seen a landmark agreement to operationalise and provide initial funding for the much-discussed loss and damage fund, that is designed to help the countries that are most vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change.

With the COP28 climate talks beginning this week, Moody’s Investors Service has taken a look at the climate and environmental exposure inherent within rated global debt issuance, finding that the total has doubled since 2015 when the Paris Agreement climate change accord was signed.

Parameter Climate, the parametric climate risk transfer focused underwriter and advisor, has completed a management buyout of seed investor SiriusPoint, as the latter continues to reduce its equity ownership in program and MGA businesses.

Underscoring the potential impacts of climate change on the insurance-linked securities (ILS) market, analysts at global asset management group Schroders have suggested the effects “should be marginal” given climate change is gradual and long-term in nature, while ILS instruments typically have a term of one to three years.

Howden, the global insurance and reinsurance broking and underwriting group, has launched a new Howden Climate Parametrics unit, to bring together its parametric risk transfer, climate risk and resilience, capital markets and insurance-linked securities (ILS) expertise, to deliver responsive risk transfer solutions.

Investor interest in insurance-linked securities (ILS), particularly on the private ILS and reinsurance side of the market, can be enhanced with a continuation of the prudent approach to underwriting currently being seen, Marcel Grandi, Head of ILS Sourcing at Twelve Capital told us.