The UK is proud to be a global leader in disaster risk finance and insurance and we are committed to contributing to meeting the G7’s InsuResilience collective target (set out in the 2015 G7 Leaders Elmau declaration) of helping up to an additional 400 million people in the most vulnerable developing countries to gain access to climate risk insurance by 2020.

In December 2015, every G7 nation set out how they will meet a collective target to reach an additional 400 million people with risk insurance by 2020. The UK has led the way, making excellent progress in delivering on its pledges of support for Climate Risk Insurance in the past year including funding for African Risk Capacity (ARC) and Pacific Catastrophe Risk Assessment and Financing Initiative (PCRAFI). UK Ministers have been invited to participate in side events at COP to highlight progress with the G7’s InsuResilience climate risk insurance initiative and on ARC.

Currently, just 5% of losses from natural disasters in low-income countries are covered by insurance (against around 40% in developed countries), leaving millions with nothing to rebuild their lives after disaster strikes. UK initiatives give countries and people the tools they need to get themselves back on their feet, which is firmly in our national interest.

The UK is proud to be a global leader in disaster risk finance and insurance and we are committed to contributing to meeting the G7’s InsuResilience collective target (set out in the 2015 G7 Leaders Elmau declaration) of helping up to an additional 400 million people in the most vulnerable developing countries to gain access to climate risk insurance by 2020. The Department for International Development (DFID) leads the delivery of the Government’s plans to scale up the use of insurance and risk finance instruments in developing countries to enable:

• Increased resilience for millions of the most vulnerable people, through improved access to insurance cover,
• Faster, more efficient emergency response, with a larger proportion of losses in vulnerable developing countries to be covered by insurance systems, taking the strain off the overstretched humanitarian system,
• Stronger and more stable economic development in developing countries, by helping to reduce the costs and barriers to credit.

The UK’s support to African Risk Capacity (ARC), the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF) and the Pacific Catastrophe Risk Assessment and Financing Initiative (PCRAFI) is managed by the Department for International Development (DFID).

In December 2015, every G7 nation set out how they will meet a collective target to reach an additional 400 million people with risk insurance by 2020. The UK has led the way, making excellent progress in delivering on its pledges of support for Climate Risk Insurance in the past year including funding for ARC and PCRAFI. UK Ministers have been invited to participate in side events at the Marrakesh Conference of Parties (COP) meeting to highlight progress with the G7’s InsuResilience climate risk insurance initiative and on ARC.

Currently, just 5% of losses from natural disasters in low-income countries are covered by insurance (against around 40% in developed countries), leaving millions with nothing to rebuild their lives after disaster strikes. UK initiatives give countries and people the tools they need to get themselves back on their feet, which is firmly in our national interest.

DFID’s work on climate resilience includes a number of weather-related microinsurance initiatives and a major research programme on scaling up microinsurance in the agricultural sector.

DFID has a large and growing disaster risk finance and insurance portfolio, with up to £136m approved or invested to date. This includes our £100 million contribution to the Africa Risk Capacity, which aims to reach 150 million people by 2020. The G7 are setting up an expert group to develop indicators to measure progress against the ‘Insuresilience’ target, against which all G7 members, including the UK, will report progress.

The UK is a leader in climate risk insurance and is committed to contributing to meeting the G7 “InsuResilience” collective target set out in the Elmau declaration of helping up to an additional 400 million people in the most vulnerable developing countries to gain access to climate risk insurance by 2020.

Recent UK support for the provision of climate risk insurance includes contributions of up to £100m to African Risk Capacity (ARC), up to £15m for the Pacific Catastrophe Risk Assessment and Financing Initiative, £5m to help developing countries with disaster contingency planning backed by risk finance, £3m of technical support to the Government of the Philippines to help them implement their financial protection and insurance strategy, and £1.4m to support livestock insurance for pastoralists in Kenya.

The UK supports the G7 Climate Risk Insurance Initiative and is committed to contributing to meeting the collective target set out in the Elmau declaration of helping up to an additional 400 million people in the most vulnerable developing countries to gain access to climate risk insurance by 2020. UK support under the Initiative includes a commitment of up to £100m to African Risk Capacity (ARC) and £15m for the Pacific Catastrophe Risk Assessment and Financing Initiative. Of this, the UK has contributed £32m so far to ARC.

On scaling up support to weather indexed microinsurance, the UK currently provides some support to livestock insurance in Kenya to improve the product offered to pastoralists and increase the role of the private sector. The UK also provides index-based insurance through the CGIAR climate change, agriculture and food security research programme (CGIAR-CCAFS). In September 2015, the Prime Minister announced that the UK would provide at least £5.8 billion of climate finance over the next five years. This is likely to include further support for climate risk insurance.

The UK supports the G7 Climate Risk Insurance Initiative and is committed to contributing to meeting the collective target set out in the Elmau declaration of helping up to an additional 400 million people in the most vulnerable developing countries to gain access to climate risk insurance by 2020.

UK support under the Initiative includes contributions to the African Risk Capacity and the Pacific Catastrophe Risk Assessment and Financing Initiative. In September the Prime Minister announced that the UK would provide at least £5.8 billion of climate finance over the next five years which will include support for climate risk insurance.