Climate Risk
For decades, Bermuda's unique re/insurance market has played a lead role in protecting the world against the devastating impact of catastrophic events. Time and again, the market has delivered to consumers whose lives have been upended. Bermuda re/insurers have paid out more than half of a trillion dollars over the past 20 years in claims arising from disasters both natural and man-made - and that's in the United States and European Union alone.
With the effects of climate change creating the potential for unprecedented catastrophe losses in the coming years, Bermuda's role has never been more globally relevant. The island's rich pedigree in natural catastrophe re/insurance and deep expertise in the science of catastrophe risk management makes it an ideal champion in the efforts to increase insurance coverage in disaster-prone developing countries that often lack it.
Bermuda's re/insurance market is heavily involved in the public-private sector collaboration to close the "protection gap", in finding ways to optimise and extend the use of insurance and risk management capabilities to build greater resilience and protection for people, communities, businesses, and public institutions.
In 2022, ABIR was a leading sponsor for Bermuda Climate Summit 2022, led by the Bermuda Business Development Agency. This two-day event attracted approximately 150 attendees, to discuss issues, including the science of climate change, the regulatory needs of green investors, and Bermuda’s leadership role in this new era. During this event, Oxbow Partners, a specialist management consultancy for the insurance industry, in partnership with the Bermuda Business Development Agency (BDA), launched a landmark report entitled ESG in Bermuda: The Rising Tide,
assessing the maturity of ESG in the Bermudian (re)insurance market at the BDA’s Bermuda Climate Risk Summit. The study highlights the advances made by Bermudian (re)insurance companies and the improvement opportunities available to them. Based on in-depth interviews with over 20 large Bermudian (re)insurers and ILS funds representing GWP of over $100bn and an investment portfolio of over $550bn, the report is the first of its kind.
Follow how Bermuda is becoming the World's Climate Risk Capital: