The H2020 Insurance project pushes the state of the art of climate risk assessment a step further in that it uses the first open source Loss Modelling Framework as the risk assessment tool for a range of climate related risks assessment scenarios. Previously these types of risk modelling tools were held within individual companies, thus the ability to compare the views of climate risks were limited. The scheme has been designed to innovate new risk scenarios e.g. a flood model that includes climate change risk assessment, a health algorithm which can help predict hospital admissions linked to lung diseases related to climate, a new methodology to assess local flood damage, a new land falling windspeed parametric assessment and forest fire scenarios are pushing the limits of our understanding of risk in these areas. In addition to this, the project brings together academia with the insurance sector, thus is developing an approach to codesign between these sectors.
A number of success stories highlight the project’s progress beyond the state of the art. As its potential and business model has already been recognized as highly promising by various stakeholders and government entities, this led to several parallel business and funding opportunities arising for further engagement. For example, the world biggest re-insurance company, Munich Re, recognized the potential of the business model and loss assessment methodology of the agricultural demonstrator, which led to a parallel pilot phase where together with the Munich Re, PIK and GAF AG are now developing business models with direct insurance companies in Eastern Africa and beyond.
Furthermore, the OASIS Modelling Framework has been adopted by the International Climate Initiative (IKI) of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) for an international collaboration to improve climate and catastrophe risk resilience in the Philippines and Bangladesh using the Oasis open-source catastrophe modelling platform.
Initial impacts can also be indicated by the visitors and users of the Oasis Hub, in that it now has over 140 organisations with 1400 data sets on the site, with over 950 members and has had over 17,500 visitors to the site from 170 countries and 2020 downloads of datasets. The site receives peak traffic during emergencies, in particular during hurricane season and on other major catastrophe events.
