Antalya, Türkiye, 13 November 2026 – Today, at the flagship COP31 Global Sustainable Insurance Summit held during the UN Climate Change Conference in Antalya, Türkiye, UN Environment Programme’s Principles for Sustainable Insurance Initiative (PSI) released a new white paper outlining how the insurance industry and key stakeholders can catalyze resilience across economies and communities increasingly impacted by more frequent and severe floods, cyclones, wildfires, heatwaves and droughts.
The paper, From Vulnerability to Insurability: How the insurance industry can catalyze resilience across the economy in an era of rising physical climate risk, comes at a time when the widening insurance protection gap is no longer just a Global South issue is increasingly affecting happening in high-income countries and regions such as Australia, Europe and North America.
As uninsured losses due to more frequent and severe climate events mount, the burden shifts directly to taxpayers, households, businesses and governments, further escalating the cost of living. Moreover, when assets lose their insurability, it can undermine their bankability and investability, posing a threat to financial stability and macroeconomic resilience.
The paper argues that reducing risk before losses occur is therefore critical. Investment in adaptation can deliver clear returns, protecting not only physical assets but also the continuity of operations, demonstrating that resilience can be a source of competitive advantage. Yet adaptation finance remains far below assessed need. Many of today’s insurability challenges arise in places where adaptation could materially reduce risk but remains underfunded, undervalued, misunderstood or inadequately assessed. Closing the adaptation gap will require action across governments, the financial sector and businesses, and insurers have a distinctive role to play.
The paper outlines six ways in which insurers can support adaptation and resilience and catalyze resilience across the economy:
- Quantifying and communicating the risk, cost and benefit of adaptation measures using claims data, catastrophe models, climate scenario analysis and complementary physical risk data from specialist vendors
- Enabling resilience through risk engineering and risk management advice, identifying which adaptation measures deliver the greatest risk reduction for the resources available
- Rewarding resilience, recognizing the associated risk reduction of adaptation measures in underwriting, including pricing and policy terms
- Unlocking resilience yet to be built by insuring the development, deployment and operation of resilience-building projects
- Carrying the residual risk that adaptation measures cannot remove, giving lenders and investors the confidence to invest in resilience-building projects
- Supporting recovery through claims, helping policyholders reinstate more resiliently.
These capabilities can support those who own, operate and finance climate-vulnerable assets, projects and businesses before disasters – by preventing losses and building better – and by supporting recovery from losses and building back better. Together, these actions help to reduce asset vulnerability and sustain insurability. Insurability, in turn, can underpin asset bankability and investability, maintaining access to finance and contributing to the stability of communities and economies. The result is a reinforcing cycle: insurance supports resilience, resilience sustains insurability, and insurability unlocks the financing of further resilience and wider investment.
The paper emphasizes that scaling resilience will require action beyond the insurance industry. Those who own and operate assets can invest in reducing risk. Lenders, investors and insurers can recognize resilience in their decisions whether through mobilizing capital or setting underwriting terms. Policymakers, regulators, and public authorities can create and require the conditions for resilience to be recognized, valued and rewarded at scale.
By working together, exercising their agency and acting urgently, the paper argues that the insurance industry and key stakeholders across the economy can make proactive risk reduction before losses occur the norm rather than the exception. It makes the case that in an era of rising physical climate risk, transforming vulnerability to insurability and catalyzing systemic resilience is no longer a choice, but a fundamental economic and social imperative.
From Vulnerability to Insurability reflects the insights of a global and diverse group of 30 insurance and stakeholder organizations that comprise the PSI Adaptation & Resilience Working Group. It also draws on consultations with stakeholders across the wider financial sector, real economy and public policy.
“As physical climate risks grow, adaptation needs to move from ambition to implementation. Insurance can help make that shift possible by quantifying the value of resilience, supporting insurability and giving investors greater confidence to commit capital.”
Liz Henderson, Global Head of Climate Risk Advisory, Aon
“As an insurer and long-term investor, Aviva sees first-hand the impact that extreme weather can have on people, homes and businesses. Our role is not only to help people recover when things go wrong, but to help reduce risk before losses occur. This paper makes a strong case for working together to build greater resilience and help people get ready for the future.“
Claudine Blamey, Group Chief Sustainability Officer, Aviva
“As COP31 takes place amid an imminent overshoot of the 1.5⁰C target, insurers have never been more central to climate action. Our role is to advance adaptation and mitigation, strengthening resilience, preserving insurability, and supporting the transition to a resilient low-carbon economy.”
Lucia Silva, Group Chief Sustainability Officer, Generali
“As physical climate risks intensify, investing in resilience is more important than ever. Insurers have a critical role to play, using our risk expertise, data and modeling capabilities to help businesses and governments understand and reduce their vulnerabilities, strengthen resilience and sustain insurability over the long term.”
Linda Freiner, Chief Sustainability Officer, Zurich Insurance Group
About the UN Environment Programme’s Principles for Sustainable Insurance (PSI) Initiative
Developed by the UN Environment Programme’s Finance Initiative, the Principles for Sustainable Insurance (PSI) were launched at the 2012 UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) and have led to the most extensive global network of insurance and stakeholder organizations committed to addressing sustainability risks and opportunities.
Endorsed by the UN Secretary-General and insurance industry CEOs, the PSI serves as a global voluntary and aspirational framework for insurers to manage sustainability risks and opportunities in core business strategies and operations and across their spheres of influence. The work of the PSI Initiative strengthens the insurance industry’s contribution as risk managers, risk carriers and investors to building resilient, inclusive and sustainable communities and economies on a healthy planet.
Learn more at: unepfi.org/psi