Insurers and Climate Risk: from Reaction to Resilience

Climate risk is now one of the most complex and immediate challenges facing the insurance industry. The increasing frequency and severity of climate-related events, evidenced by $328 billion in global economic losses in 2024 highlight the urgent need for insurers to strengthen resilience and reduce protection gaps.

This viewpoint explores how insurers must transform their operating models, moving from reactive risk transfer to proactive protection. It presents a forward-looking strategy that integrates predictive risk modeling, AI-powered alerts, sensor-based monitoring, and cloud-native architecture to enhance agility and disaster preparedness. The viewpoint also emphasizes the importance of embedding climate intelligence into business decision making and technology infrastructure.

By aligning business and IT through a value-stream-based operating model and responsible AI/data governance, insurers can build scalable, customer-centric solutions that anticipate, rather than react to, climate disruption. The viewpoint provides a practical framework to help insurers become strategic enablers of climate adaptation, fostering sustainable growth, regulatory alignment, and societal impact.