The (Re)Insurance Industry’s Roles in the Integration of Nature-based Solutions for Prevention in Disaster Risk Reduction—Insights from a European Survey

• Main Authors: Roxane Marchal, Guillaume Piton, Elena Lopez-Gunn, Pedro Zorrilla-Miras, Peter Van der Keur, Kieran Dartée, Polona Pengal, John Matthews, Jean-Marc Tacnet, Nina Graveline, Monica Altamirano, John Joyce, Florentina Nanu, Ioana Groza, Karina Peña, Blaz Cokan, Sophia Burke, David Moncoulon
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2019-11-01
• Series: Sustainability
• Subjects: natural hazard insurance; climate change adaptation; disaster risk reduction; nature-based solutions; nature assurance scheme; insurance value of ecosystems
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/22/6212

Nature-based solutions (NBS) are increasingly being considered as an option to reduce societies’ vulnerability to natural hazards, creating co-benefits while protecting ecosystem services in a context of changing climate patterns with more frequent and extreme weather events. The reinsurance and insurance industries are increasingly cited as sectors that can play a role to help manage risks, by improving disaster risk reduction (DRR) and loss prevention. This paper investigates how the (re)insurance industry could support the transition from a paradigm focused on ex-post responses to ex-ante risk reduction measures including NBS, in line with the Sendai Framework. This paper presents the results of a series of 61 interviews undertaken with the (re)insurance sector and related actors under the EU H2020 Nature Insurance Value Assessment and Demonstration (NAIAD) project. Methods based on a Grounded Theory approach indicate how this sector can play different roles in loss prevention, including ecosystem-based disaster risk reduction (eco-DRR). Results illustrate how the (re)insurance industry, under these roles, is gradually innovating by having a better understanding of hazards and mitigation. The findings of the study contribute to wider discussions such as the possibility of new arrangements like natural insurance schemes and evidence-based assessment of avoided damage costs from green protective measures, in Europe and beyond.