MCII at the June Climate Talks (2013) in Bonn

05. June

Climate Risk Insurance: Developing a Strategic Concept for Implementation

The Munich Climate Insurance Initiative (MCII) along with the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) jointly organised a workshop with UNFCCC climate negotiators on insurance approaches and comprehensive climate risk management.

The purpose of the meeting was twofold:

  • To report back to delegates about lessons learned, good practice, limitations of the use of insurance approaches to address climatic risks. These were gathered during MCII and GIZ’s expert April 2013 workshop on “Climate Risk Insurance and Integrated Climate Risk Management: Developing a Strategic Concept for Implementation”, hosted at United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS) in Bonn
  • To offer concise overview of current thinking on the possible uses of insurance approaches in comprehensive climate risk management strategies for countries at risk. Also following-up on relevant discussions at the MCII workshop on “Climate Risk Insurance in the Context of Adaptation and Loss & Damage” (held in Barbados, on 12 October, 2012).

Objectives:

  • The meeting will share experts’ views from both the public and private sectors on lessons learned from the local, national, and international level.
  • Delegates will have the chance to inquire about current gaps and information needs for climate risk insurance approaches and climate risk management.
  • The meeting will be followed-up with individual bilateral consultations with the delegates to gather comprehensive feedback.

06. June

Innovative Insurance Product to Help Vulnerable People in Saint Lucia to Protect their Livelihoods

The Caribbean Island of Saint Lucia pioneers in a new programme to protect low-income people against extreme weather risks with the “Livelihood Protection Policy (LPP)”, an innovative insurance product launched by the “Climate Risk Adaptation and Insurance in the Caribbean” project.

Representatives from MCII, the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) and the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF) attended the press briefing:

  • Felix Ries (BMU) elaborated on the position of the German delegation to support the dialogue on how to effectively address climate extremes and stressed the importance of innovative solutions, such as the MCII Caribbean project, as “incubators” for the development of effective appraoches to enhance adaptive capacities of people at risk.
  • Koko Warner and Sobiah Becker (MCII) explained how the project complements the international climate negotiations in the context of the UNFCCC and described the design of the Livelihood Protection Policy. See the presentation by MCII
  • Isaac Anthony (CCRIF) emphasised how the appraoch of the MCII Caribbean project complements national risk management plans of countries in the Caribbean and further highlighted how a regional facility like CCRIF can help bolster the development of comprehensive climate risk management approaches.

Watch the webcast of the press briefing [HERE].

07. June

Loss & Damage: Comprehensive Risk Management from an Insurance Perspective

Date:
Friday, 07 June 2013

Location:
METRO (Ministry of Transport)

Format:
Short presentations & audience discussion

Description:
In the last three decades, a general upward trend has been recorded for frequencies of weather-related loss events which is detectable in rich economies as well as in poorer economies. Hurricane Sandy has recently proven this fact by affecting both developing and developed countries alike and has emphasized yet again that the challenge of addressing both the impacts of weather extremes and incremental change is daunting. The need is therefore greater than ever to incorporate pro-active planning and management of climate-related stressors into decision making now and in the future by avoiding, reducing and sharing the risks imposed by climate change.

Insurance-related approaches are designed to manage losses and damages caused by events which cannot be foreseen where and when they occur. MCII tries to inform the discussion around how those tools can help effectively address loss and damage from weather extremes as part of a wider risk management framework in ways that bolster rather than diminish efforts to achieve climate resilient development.

In preparation for COP-19, Parties seek practical examples to guide their thinking around elements of an institutional mechanism to address loss and damage. The MCII side event aims to help Parties prepare for decisions in Warsaw by highlighting expert views on how risk transfer approaches can be part of wider climate risk management. Practitioners will share insights from an MCII-led project with CCRIF, MicroEnsure and Munich Re which utilises a regional facility to avoid, manage and transfer weather-related risks for low-income groups. The panel will highlight practical implications and present recommendations on how innovative risk reduction and risk transfer solutions could be used to successfully address loss & damage.

We invite further expert insights on challenges, lessons learned and ways forward on insurance as a complementary tool in broader climate risk management efforts.

Objectives:

  • Explore climate risk landscapes in the context of current emission pathways;
  • Elaborate on key factors to enable the integration of insurance approaches into climate risk management;
  • Highlight how a new local-levl appraoch in the Caribbean ties into national and regional risk management strategies.

Panel:

  • Koko Warner (MCII, hosted by UNU-EHS): Introduction & Moderation
  • Isaac Anthony (CCRIF): HOW DO LOCAL-LEVEL RISK TRANSFER APPROACHES COMPLEMENT NATIONAL RISK MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES: A PERSPECTIVE FROM THE CARIBBEAN
  • Annelie Janz (BMU): ADAPTATION IN THE CONTEXT OF THE INTERNATIONAL CLIMATE INITIATIVE
  • Janina Voss (GIZ): THE ROLE OF INSURANCE IN CLIMATE RISK MANAGEMENT
  • Peter Hoeppe (Munich Re): INSURANCE RELATED RISK MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS SUPPORT ADAPTATION TO INCREASING WEATHER EXTREMES