Disaster Risk Reduction Working Group (DRR)
The overarching purpose of the DRR is to demonstrate how the insurance industry can play an active role in preventing disasters from happening and reducing their impact when they do. The Working Group’s main objectives include promoting DRR as a complement to protection gap solutions, integrating a DRR lens into IDF programmes, and emphasising the role of insurance in DRR.
It also aims to enable a shift within the insurance industry from a sole focus on providing risk transfer products and services as a means to protecting the insured, to an emphasis on prevention through DRR incentives, awareness, capacity and financing.
The DRR Working Group has defined three key focus areas to increase focus on disaster risk reduction:
Awareness, education & communication
- Strengthen the narrative on the convergence between insurance and disaster risk management and its contribution to society through showcasing examples of how insurers engage with clients and implement DRR mechanisms.
- Bring awareness to private and public sector of the key role of the insurance industry in terms of DRR and foster actions in this area.
Standard setting & measurement
- Establish standards for measuring integration of DRR industry mechanisms in business and on sovereign level.
- Develop practical guides for integrating DRR mechanisms into industry practices, IDF projects and, on sovereign level, documenting the value of holistic disaster risk thinking.
Capitalising on synergies & integration
- Engage with other IDF working groups such as the Sovereign and Humanitarian Solutions (SHS) Working Group (e.g. on the Tripartite Agreement Programme) Inclusive Insurance Working Group (IIWG), to co-create operating models for more comprehensive integration of DRR mechanisms into country projects.
- Engage with other organisations (e.g., humanitarian agencies), and initiatives to identify opportunities for DRR mechanism integration.
Implementation Work Highlights:
Working on the DF–ADB Partnership on Insurable Infrastructure Solutions in the Pacific:
This new initiative looks to operationalise the recommendations from ADB’s guide on insurable infrastructure to enable greater resilience in the region. By bringing together Pacific Island Country representatives, development partners, project funders and managers, and insurance industry stakeholders, and with support of the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) through the Pacific Partnership Facility, the initiative aims to explore a mechanism to integrate risk advisory services, risk reduction measures, and innovative insurance solutions across the infrastructure lifecycle. The next phase will be to establish a roadmap for the implementation of a suitable facility, meeting the needs of the proposed concept and ensuring that projects are sustainable, insurable, bankable, and so become attractive to private sector investment.
Disaster Risk Reduction Working Group (DRR) Leadership
Working Group members
Allianz
Ariel Re
Asian Development Bank
AXA Climate
Global Parametrics
ICMIF
Marsh McLennan
Marsh Re
MS Amlin
Renaissance Re
SCOR
UNDP
UNDRR
World Bank
Zurich Insurance Group
Learn More
Programme
IDF-ADB Partnership on Insurable Infrastructure Solutions in the Pacific
A partnership between the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the IDF Disaster Risk Reduction Working Group, to help Pacific Island Countries (PICs) develop a regional strategy for insurable infrastructure solutions.
Article
Fund Resilience, Not Disasters: Why Risk Reduction is the Future of Insurability
DRR co-chairs highlight why DRR matters for insurability and update on the Working Group activity ahead of International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction (IDDRR).
Article
Risks Reduced, Resilience Raised: Saoirse Jones on Insurance with Purpose
DRR Working Group Co-Chair Saoirse Jones reflects on her professional journey, the role of insurance in DRR, and how public-private collaboration can build stronger, more climate disaster-resilient systems.