Making climate risk insurance work for the most vulnerable: Seven guiding principles

This policy report contributes to the learning process by presenting the results of the study “Climate risk insurance for the poor & vulnerable: How to effectively implement the pro-poor focus of InsuResilience”, that analysed 18 already existing climate risk insurance schemes to investigate:

1. If and how climate risk insurance can contribute to building the resilience and alleviating poverty of its target group.
2. How climate risk insurance can effectively reach the poor and vulnerable, including success factors and challenges.

The findings from the study provide the basis for distilling the Pro-Poor Principles for Climate Risk Insurance, and highlight the importance of offering comprehensive and needs-based solutions to climate risk as well as linking insurance to other comprehensive risk management strategies.

The relevance of insurance as a tool within comprehensive climate risk management has been recognized by policymakers and practitioners around the world. Many actors are currently investing resources in developing and supporting climate risk insurance schemes, and are looking for ways to implement insurance on a larger scale; many of these efforts are specifically targeted at covering the poor and vulnerable in developing countries. Now is the time to learn and adapt from existing pilots and schemes, to ensure that climate risk insurance efforts effectively contribute to the ultimate objective of climate risk management: supporting poor and vulnerable people in finding climate-resilient development pathways.