Natural disasters are a major impediment to development in many countries, undermining sustainable development, threatening earlier achievements in supporting vulnerable population, and leading to loss of lives and livelihoods. With climate change extreme weather events such as floods, storms and droughts are expected to increase in frequency and intensity. Aid often comes too little, too late – around one to six months after the disaster has struck - increasing the impacts of natural disasters by twofold and more. As an essential element of comprehensive risk management, Climate Risk Insurance can mitigate the negative consequences providing reliable and fast financial support in the aftermath of extreme weather events.

The mission of the InsuResilience Solutions Fund (ISF) is to support innovative solutions to mitigate these negative impacts of climate change. Therefore ISF fosters the development of needs-based and financially sustainable Climate Risk Insurance products in developing and emerging countries, increasing the resilience of vulnerable households against extreme weather events and natural catastrophes. As implementing programme of the InsuResilience Global Partnership, the ISF is an important contribution of the German Government to achieve the target of the international initiative on Climate Risk Insurance, or 'InsuResilience'. The ISF further serves as an implementation vehicle for the Tripartite Agreement; for this purpose, the Project Coordination Unit (PCU) has been established.

For more information visit Frankfurt School’s website.

Background

The economic and financial losses caused by natural disasters have increased substantially over the last decades. It is expected that the frequency and severity of weather related events will further increase due to climate change. Developing and emerging countries are and will be particularly affected by these developments. Their capacities to cope with the effects of natural disasters and extreme weather events are limited. Traditional risk-sharing mechanisms and social safety nets fail by reason of the scale and effect of such catastrophic events. Access to insurance is limited in developing economies although insurance could effectively complement existing risk management strategies and reduce the vulnerability of countries and their population towards natural catastrophes. Insurance schemes reduce the dependence on public emergency assistance and compensate the affected in a direct way. Insurance pay-outs reach people much faster than emergency relief operations and more importantly, insurance can incentivize people to implement effective adaptation measures by leading to a reduction of the payable insurance premium.

The ISF's approach is unique as it aims to leverage the expertise of the private sector including risk taking capacities and to ensure the demand and sustainability of the developed Climate Risk Insurance products.

The ISF seeks to increase the capacity of developing countries to adapt to climate change through the introduction and use of Climate Risk Insurance products by

1. supporting comprehensive Climate Risk Analysis as a vital basis for governments, businesses and households to become more proactive risk managers and take informed decisions in defining needs-based climate risk management and adaptation strategies. Furthermore the Global Risk Modelling Alliance (GRMA) programme, initiated by the V20 and the insurance Development Forum (IDF) and hosted under the ISF, supports countries in strengthening their own climate risk modelling capabilities and in closing existing risk modelling and data gaps. The programme is implemented by a team of climate risk (finance) experts from the public and the private sector following a unique PPP approach.
2. identifying possible concepts and basic structures of climate risk transfers via insurance solutions as an integral element of a comprehensive climate risk management strategy by funding studies on wider adaptation needs based on Climate Risk Analysis.
3. supporting the introduction and offer of innovative Climate Risk Insurance products by co-funding the development of concrete insurance products.

Initiator

Against this background at the G7 Summit 2015, the topic of Climate Insurance was identified as one of the key priorities. The German federal government, together with the G7 partners, has made a clear commitment to promoting climate risk insurance approaches in developing and emerging countries through the Climate Insurance Initiative "InsuResilience" and this position has been reinforced through statements made at the Conference of Parties (COP) of the UNFCCC in 2015 (C0P21), and 2016 (COP22). Subsequently the topic of climate risk finance and insurance solutions took a prominent role on the agenda of the G20. In their Climate and Energy Action Plan for Growth the G20 expressed their support for the creation of the InsuResilience Global Partnership for Climate and Disaster Risk Finance and Insurance Solutions (IGP), which was officially launched at COP23 in November 2017.

The central objective of the InsuResilience Global Partnership is to enable more timely and reliable disaster response through the use of Climate and Disaster Risk Finance and Insurance (CDRFI) solutions and thus to strengthen adaptation and local resilience of vulnerable populations to the adverse effects of climate change. In order to enable a substantial scale-up in the use of CDRFI solutions by developing countries, a product development facility, the InsuResilience Solutions Fund (ISF), was established as one of the implementing programs of the InsuResilience Global Partnership.

The InsuResilience Solutions Fund has been set up by KfW Development Bank on behalf of the Federal Republic of Germany, represented by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). The Fund commenced its activities in 2018 whereas its funding operations started in 2019.

KfW gives impetus to economic, social and ecological development worldwide. As a promotional bank under the ownership of the Federal Republic and the Länder (federal states), it offers support to encourage sustainable improvement in economic, social, ecological living and business conditions, among others in the areas of small and medium-sized enterprises, entrepreneurship, environmental protection, housing, infrastructure, education finance, project and export finance, and development cooperation.
For more details, please visit www.kfw.de

Governance

Funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the InsuResilience Solutions Fund has been set-up by KfW in order to support the development of innovative Climate Risk Insurance products and insurance markets. Frankfurt School of Finance and Management (FS) is commissioned by KfW to manage the ISF and to support its research and advisory activities. The Steering Unit of the ISF consisting of the Strategic and Technical Committee are responsible for the strategic and technical oversight of all operations of the ISF.

Project Executing Agency (Fund Manager)

Frankfurt School of Finance & Management (Frankfurt School) is the leading private business school and advisory institute in Germany in the finance sector with 60 years of experience in consulting, qualification, project implementation, and training services. Its mission is to advance national and international business practices through academic programmes and research, executive education, corporate services, and advisory activities.

Located within the Frankfurt School, the FS - International Advisory Services (IAS) and UNEP Collaborating Centre seek to facilitate private sector investment and financing of sustainable energy and climate change mitigation and adaptation projects across the globe. The overarching goal of the activities is to embed the ‘green economy’ agenda within financial institution’s operations. Jointly with partners, FS is constantly elaborating and field-testing new financial instruments, products and services that serve the growing markets clean energy production, energy efficiency and climate adaptation and mitigation solutions.

Frankfurt School is a non-profit, limited liability company. It is directed and supervised by major German commercial banks and companies (Board of Trustees) such as LBBW Bank, Commerzbank, Bertelsmann Stiftung, DZ Bank, Siemens AG, Deutsche Bundesbank and HypoVereinsbank - UniCredit Bank AG. The school is governed by an Executive Board and supported by an independent Advisory Board.

For additional information, please visit: www.fs.de