As part of the Agricultural Risk Academy (ARA) programme on agricultural insurance and reinsurance, the Genillard&Co team (G&Co) organized an international symposium to discuss the risks of climate change for agriculture and its insurability.
The first event of this kind took place on 6th
& 7th of March in Freising Weihenstephan at the Life Science
Campus of the Technical University of Munich. Among the approx. 70 participants
were representatives from business, science, insurance industry, agriculture
and the public sector.
After a short welcome by Christopher Genillard (G
& Co), the participants were introduced by a first-class lecture from Dr.
Christoph Gornott (PIK – Potsdam Institute for Climate Research) into the topic
of the symposium (Influence of Climate Change on Agriculture). In a subsequent
discussion on the topic “Capacity Building on Climate Change”, it was
concluded that there is still a lot of work to do in this area along the
agricultural value chain.
Afterwards, Dr. Eberhard Faust, Head of Research
for Climate Risks and Natural Hazards at Munich Re, was able to show the
participants what insights into the effects of climate change the world’s
largest reinsurer is collecting and how these affect the development of new
insurance products. The participants started another interesting discussion
about index products, which, even without the basis of historical data, provide
protection for a large number of farmers and streamline traditional claims management
processes.
The day was concluded with fruitful discussions
and a common dinner in a cozy Bavarian atmosphere.
The second day kicked off with Tamme van der Wal
presenting interesting results and insights from the field and his work at the
Wageningen University and Research Institute (WUR) on digital solutions that
can help to make agriculture sustainably “Climate Smart” (again).
Participants in the following discussion were able to apply these insights
immediately to the insurance industry and explain the benefits and challenges
of relevant technologies to insurers and farmers.
In order to dive deeper into the two main topics
of the symposium, insurance products and
technologies for improved risk management in agriculture against the challenges
induced by climate change, workshops were held in the late morning and
afternoon in which the participants were able to work on different questions on
the respective topic in smaller groups. The results were shared afterwards in
short presentations with all participants.
The participants used the extended breaks to network
and to inform themselves as well as exchange information on current topics in
the agro-insurance industry, projects and on solutions offered by selected tech
companies and institutions.
We would like to thank all participants for their contributions and productive discussion.
We look
forward to the next Symposium.
The G & Co Team
