Climate risk insurance for the poor & vulnerable: How to effectively implement the pro-poor focus of InsuResilience

This publication reports on the results of a research study on climate risk insurance. This study contributes to the learning process and the global discussion on addressing climate change risks for the poor. It does so by presenting research results based on the analysis of 18 already existing climate risk insurance schemes. The research investigated:

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 primary objective of this study is to support the preparation and implementation process of InsuResilience. It does so in the following ways:

• Providing the theoretical and normative background for InsuResilience by investigating the potential impact of climate risk insurance on resiliencebuilding.
• Outlining relevant principles that can guide InsuResilience in effectively targeting poor and vulnerable people, while at the same time improving their resilience and alleviating poverty. 
• Defining the target groups of the initiative to ensure that efforts reach those who need it most. 
• Formulating recommendations for InsuResilience based on lessons learned from existing insurance schemes. The study explores what new thinking and action is needed for InsuResilience to reach 400 million additional people with direct and indirect insurance by 2020 and how the findings of this study can be used for monitoring and evaluating the success of the initiative. 
• Furthermore, we aim to identify gaps and research needs that would be important to address to support the implementation process of InsuResilience.

This study by the Munich Climate Risk Insurance Initiative (MCII) has been funded through a grant provided by the Global Programme on Risk Assessment and Management for Adaptation to Climate Change (Loss and Damage) at the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ GmbH)/InsuResilience Interim Secretariat, commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). The results presented in this research report, and the Pro-Poor Principles for Climate Risk Insurance in particular, are MCII’s contribution to supporting and guiding current and future efforts in reaching and benefiting the poor and vulnerable with climate risk insurance.