Insurance and risk transfer

Households absorb much of the cost of disasters: Post-Disaster Needs Assessments from 20 countries in Asia and the Pacific put about 40 per cent of impacts in social and productive sectors. ESCAP sets out three government interventions.

After Cyclone Gezani devastated Madagascar, pre-arranged financing programme, REPAIR, helped mobilize over US$15 million within seven days, supporting emergency assistance, cash-for-work activities and community-led recovery for more than 400,000 people.

Insurwave announced a powerful update and relaunch of its dynamic risk platform, bringing insurers, brokers and fleet owners onto one platform designed to make dynamic risk measurable as it moves, alongside a new brand identity.

A survey by IRES for the Romanian insurers’ association UNSAR finds that 88 per cent of Romanians say they know how to react in an earthquake, but only 44 per cent have agreed a family plan and 40 per cent keep a first-aid kit.

Within seven days of the government's request, the REPAIR programme mobilized more than US$15 million for Madagascar's recovery from Cyclone Gezani, funding cash-for-work for 40,000 households and assistance for more than 400,000 people.

World Vision and VisionFund are advancing a new generation of parametric meso climate insurance solutions designed to help vulnerable communities respond faster to floods, droughts and other climate shocks.

This study develops a meso-level parametric flood and drought insurance model for smallholder farmers and SMEs in Belize and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, leveraging blockchain to automate payouts, enhance resilience, and strengthen rural livelihoods.

Wetlands restoration and wildfire prevention can drive down insurers’ costs and skyrocketing premiums, a new study shows.

This evaluation of IRC's Climate Resilient Education Systems Trial (CREST) pilot in northern Kenya looks at what happens when parametric insurance meets education, and offers practical lessons for others looking to follow.

This playbook explores how coalitions of local government, businesses, investors, insurers and communities can manage physical risk to improve their resilience and insurability in the face of increasing extreme weather events.

This white paper analyzes the growing compound risks of heat and water stress using climate models, industry data, and case studies, urging forward-looking risk integration and investment in water efficiency amid rising global wet-bulb temperatures.

The EU will launch a climate insurance alliance to increase coverage for extreme weather losses, while advancing climate resilience, heatwave early warning systems and drought risk management after a summer marked by wildfires, heatwaves and drought.

The opportunity before Africa is therefore larger than closing a protection gap. It is about creating the conditions that allow millions more people, businesses and public assets to become insurable.

Residents in predominantly Hispanic communities in Florida, USA are paying on average $5,014 more annually for their policies, a report says.

Morocco’s Integrated Disaster Risk Management and Resilience Program shifted the country from disaster response to risk prevention, financing >300 resilience projects, protecting millions of people and strengthening disaster risk financing by 2025.

The authors develop an integrated framework that combines hydrodynamic modelling, damage assessments, and premium estimates to quantify flood risk and insurance viability under coupled climate and socioeconomic change.

Willis, a WTW business, and the Caribbean Biodiversity Fund announced the launch of a market-first parametric insurance program to protect Caribbean coral reefs. Capacity is to be provided by Liberty Mutual, supported by the InsuResilience Solutions Fund.

Colombian government has contracted five parametric agricultural insurance policies covering 14,402 smallholder farmers, benefitting up to 41,600 people across their households in five departments for up to US$20.14 million in coverage.

According to the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) , only about a quarter of European catastrophe losses have historically been insured, with the remainder being borne by households, businesses and public finances.

Frequent, expensive disasters are testing Europe’s ability to protect itself against the cost of global warming.

This report presents an analysis of global natural catastrophe losses in 2025 and the drivers behind the persistent rise in disaster risk for insurance markets and societal resilience.

The protection gap — the difference between total economic losses and the share that insurance actually covers — is a widening, systemic risk. Here is why it matters, who absorbs the cost, and how catastrophe models can help bring it into view.

Climate-related disasters are becoming one of Asia’s most important economic and fiscal challenges.

This working paper examines how Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten finance disaster recovery and why they make limited use of modern disaster risk financing instruments despite their high exposure to natural hazards.

The authors investigate how home insurance pricing affects household investment in climate adaptation.

IAG finds Australians remain underprepared despite widespread heatwave impacts

The Dominican Republic has become the first country in Latin America and the Caribbean to integrate parametric insurance into its adaptive social protection system; providing rapid financial support to households when extreme rainfall or wind events occur

Moody’s finds that increasing severity and frequency of hazards, and the sunsetting of the UK reinsurance plan Flood Re in 2039, could widen public sector exposure.

The objective of this report is to summarize Zambia’s financial preparedness to crises and disasters at the sovereign, firm, and household levels. In this context, the focus is on the fiscal implications of the emergency response to shocks for the GRZ.

This study explores how surface water flood risk affects developers’ financial exposure during construction and sales, and whether cost-effective property-level resilience measures can reduce these impacts across different housing development scenarios.

HERA and its partners launched HERA Materna, the world’s first ever heat-pregnancy insurance program. Extreme heat is threatening pregnant women on the frontlines of the climate crisis, and until now no financial protection has existed to shield them.

This paper provides a summary review of the collection of parametric case studies. The paper highlights key takeaways from the case studies, including how solutions are already delivering rapid liquidity after disasters, & closing critical protection gaps

This study has investigated the deployment of takaful for farmers in flood- and drought-prone regions in Nigeria. The study used a quantitative research design with cross-sectional survey data from smallholder farmers in some climate-prone zones

The ICP represents a step in the right direction. It marks a departure from how major climate risk finance initiatives have typically operated, building inclusive planning into its architecture rather than treating it as an afterthought.

As climate change risks increase, insurance premiums are rising, making coverage unaffordable for many, especially those in high-risk areas.

While the global natural catastrophe insurance protection gap is estimated to have risen to US $424 billion in 2025, new research from Swiss Re suggests that insurance coverage is growing broadly in line with the increasing catastrophe exposure.

The Guatemalan Red Cross has activated its early action protocol (EAP) for drought. It is now implementing pre-agreed actions to support those at risk from this hazard, which is linked to the emerging El Niño event.

When drought indicators in Lao PDR cross a defined level, money moves. That is the core logic behind a new anticipatory drought insurance pilot launched May 29, 2026.

This policy note explores how Integrated National Financing Frameworks (INFFs) can support more resilient financing by embedding climate risk diagnostics and climate disaster risk finance and insurance (CDRFI) mechanisms into national financing strategies

While federal flood insurance subsidizes risky coastal and waterfront development for wealthier homeowners by lowering the cost of living in these areas, many low-income households in flood-prone areas remain stuck with risky properties and little help.

This policy note builds on the practical and operational experience of the World Bank Group and World Food Programme to offer an overview of why and how strengthening the linkages between disaster risk finance (DRF) and adaptive social protection matters.

This report presents an independent evaluation of its In-Country Process - the multi-step pathway through which countries identify their priorities and request support - drawing on case studies from Pakistan, Costa Rica and The Gambia.

In California, “uninsurable” means wildfire premiums jumping from $2,500 to $20,000 a year, or insurers refusing to renew policies altogether. In rural Mozambique, it means families having no financial safety net when a cyclone destroys their home.

US residential flood exposure poses a growing credit risk, given large insurance protection gap.

As of October 2025, 6,728 people in Magude have benefited from improved water access, including 2,561 women. Approximately 8,797 cattle have benefited from improved water access, and 1,045 households received food assistance during drought periods.