Flood modelling in an era of climate change was the theme of our annual workshop with focus on “best practice in risk management of natural hazards” in April. We enjoyed the hospitality of the hydrology department at the Technical University of Munich and experienced a very informative day, learning about recent developments in the European NatCat insurance and reinsurance market. The presentations by scientists and industry experts and subsequent panel discussions sparked off productive debate in the lecture hall.
Best practice in mapping of natural hazards in Europe
The morning session was dedicated to assessing
progress with “intelligent” mapping and zoning of natural hazards in several
European countries. This involved work on HORA
in Austria, recently released flash flood mapping in Switzerland,
the new flash flood zones of ZÜRS in Germany and the preparation of the
upcoming Danish Climate Atlas. All were
four were examples of best practice whose
development were triggered individually by different events and national
challenges.After the presentations of intelligent mapping and zoning, a report about the impact of climate change on the Polish
insurance industry provided a perfect transition to the second session about
which explored new possible pathways of
modelling in the insurance industry.
H2020_Insurance Future Danube Model – flood modelling in an era of climate change
The centrepiece this year was the presentation of the H2020_Insurance Danube
model, work on which has progressed well. In
contrast to many existing vendor models for risk assessment in the insurance
industry the model is designed in a most transparent way enabling users to
adapt it to their own needs on vulnerability functions or event definitions.
The audience consisting of representatives from academia, local insurers and
international insurance and reinsurance companies showed
a keen interest in the work of the scientific risk modellers from PIK Potsdam and GFZ.
Closely linked to this model approach is the project’s deliverable
of implementation in the Oasis LMF framework. This open source catastrophe
modelling platform enables the development, deployment and execution of cat
models for stakeholders from academia or private sector by providing
standardized formats and components leading to transparent outcomes. Dickie
Whitaker (CEO of Oasis LMF) gave us important insights into this collaboration collaborative approach regarding data management
and modelling.
Designing the change by collaboration
Finally the workshop resulted in fruitful panel discussions which were coined
by different aspects of risk management of natural catastrophes. In the area of risk modelling collaboration and data
sharing within the insurance industry and with science/academia
were discussed. In the course of this further
challenges to overcome disciplinary barriers were identified. The discussion of
AI as a disruptive technology and an accelerator for risk management revealed
some controversial views on its use and classification. The panel discussion
about public private partnerships was dedicated to the
scope of offers and funding that the European Union and its
institutions can provide for public and private
organisations to assist
with the development of predictive analytics to measure the impact of climate
change. These could open up further possibilities for the scalability of
cooperative solutions for the insurance industry which has to face changes in
risk patterns of natural perils induced by climate change.
We would like to thank all colleagues, speakers and participants for their contributions in creating this successful event and we hope to see you again next year in Vienna.
The G&Co Team
