Disaster risk and readiness for insurance solutions: InsuRisk assessment report 2018

This report is the 2018 update to the “Risk and Readiness for Insurance Solutions Assessment Tool” (InsuRisk Assessment Tool) and assesses the climate and disaster risk of partner countries as well as their readiness to accommodate risk insurance and other risk transfer solutions.

In preparation for COP24 in Katowice, Poland, the initial InsuRisk Assessment Tool prototype was updated using the most recent high-quality data. Overall, data for 32 out of the total 53 indicators (60%) was updated based on newly available data. Further, the methodology for index construction was also slightly updated. For the 2018 version, global minimum and maximum values were used for each indicator, thus allowing for changes in the selection of target countries in the future while ensuring that the index scores of the individual countries do not change. This approach facilitates timeline comparisons in the future, in support of tracking countries’ progress towards risk reduction and their improvements in the readiness to accommodate risk transfer solutions. Further details on the above mentioned updates are provided in the supplementary online material. 

In 2017, the InsuResilience Secretariat commissioned the United Nations University’s Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS) and Social Impact Partners to develop a concept and methodology that provide transparent and comparable information on countries’ vulnerability towards climate and disaster risks and their readiness to accommodate insurance solutions. Such information is supposed to provide orientation for the prioritization of action within the InsuResilience Global Partnership and tailor support for potential partner countries.