Collaboration with (inter-)governmental and academic institutions

In recent years, we have collaborated with various (inter-) governmental and academic institutions both to promote effective approaches to sustainability challenges and to share our expertise on managing specific risks.

Our work with (inter-)governmental agencies to promote effective sustainability responses

• In Europe, we have continued to raise awareness of the important role insurers play in mitigating climate risk through different interactions with policy makers. This includes speaking at industry conferences (Insurance Europe and the ABI), presenting at the European Commission’s DG Climate Action’s working group on Climate Adaptation and bilateral engagement with the European Commission and national governments. We also remain engaged in the debate via our trade association memberships (eg the Reinsurance Advisory Board);
• In the US, we have maintained regular dialogue with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), principally on climate change and natural catastrophes;
• In Switzerland, we have provided a committee member of the OcCC (Organe consultatif sur les changements climatiques), an advisory body on climate change set up by the Swiss Federal Administration.
• For our participation in the FSB Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures, see Regulatory risks: climate change.

Our work with (inter-)governmental agencies to share risk management expertise

• With Global Partnerships, we have a team that works strategically with public-sector bodies to improve risk resilience:
  • directly with sovereigns or subsovereigns and their agencies, recently eg with the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund to strengthen risk resilience, the Turkish Catastrophe Insurance Pool to improve re/insurance protection against earhquakes, the government of Uruguay to create a solution providing cover for drought conditions that affect hydropower generation or through the Pacific Catastrophe Risk Insurance Pilot;
  • with the United Nation’s International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) in a consulting role;
  • with development agencies such as the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID), the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) or the German Development Bank (KfW).
• We have regularly contributed to platforms such as the World Economic Forum, B20, G20 and G8 to share our insights on key risks, and support the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)process.

Working with academic institutions

• We have been supporting the Integrative Risk Management and Economics project at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich, which aims to advance a holistic approach to managing risks and educate a new generation of researchers;
• As a member of the steering committee of Swiss-based ProClim – Forum for Climate and Global Change – we have support integrated research activities and get access to the latest scientific findings;
• We support the “20th Century Reanalysis” project of the NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory and the University of Colorado, Boulder. It contains objectively-analysed fourdimensional weather maps and their uncertainty from the late 19th to the 21st century.