We are proud to announce the official start of the new EU-funded project: SOTERIA (SOlutions TEsting for Regions through Insurance for Climate Adaptation). The project was launched in September this year and will continue until February 2025. Together with 14 other European partners, as well as 14 associated partners and collaborators, we are looking forward to co-creating Communities of Practice (CoP) for Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) with a total budget of just under 3M €. Sourcing from global know-how on best-practice and innovative insurance solutions that contribute to CCA, the implementation of applicable insurance solutions will be tested in selected case study regions. Insurance solutions include e.g. methods for (loss) data use and sharing, new insurance products, services and pricing methods, new insurance marketing and sales methods, public-private partnerships and public procurement.
Coordinated by the Basque Centre for Climate Change (BC3), this project has three main goals:
1) Informing, boosting and facilitating access to better knowledge, data and digital services that can enhance climate risk management at local, regional, national, and EU levels using climate risk products and services.
2) Documenting best and emerging practices, while also helping test innovative solutions (including risk transfer), to deal with climate induced risks in our regions grounded in dialogue and co-creation activities with stakeholders from the insurance sector, cities and regions, but also farmers, communities and consumers associations directly vulnerable, targeting insurance gaps in Europe with innovations in the field of sustainable insurance.
3) Supporting, informing and providing the basis for the adoption of a multilevel, polycentric governance approach at the interface between Climate Change Adaptation and insurance to enable innovative solutions to be implemented, especially in relation to public sector modernisation, and the leverage of funding and blended finance.
As a final output, the project will deliver a Best Practice catalogue and replication manual for EU regions and communities.
The project focuses on 8 case study regions: Valencia (Spain), West Athens (Greece), Gabrovo (Bulgaria), Leipzig (Germany), Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt (Germany), Bavaria (Germany), Zadar (Croatia) and Trondelag (Norway). Local stakeholders include, but are not limited to, insurers, governmental bodies (cities, counties or municipalities) and consumer representatives. The main asset types of interest in these regions are buildings, crops and infrastructure, depending on the region and flexible to change.
During the kick-off Meeting on 21st and 22nd September, all partners gathered in Bilbao, Spain to get to know each other and discuss the overall project plan as well as specific tasks and first steps. The diverse consortium harbours a broad spectrum of knowledge and expertise, that will be invaluable for the success of the project. For instance, the advantages of applying behavioral sciences for the effective implementation of various measures was shared.
Genillard & Co is involved in key aspects of the project, coordinating two of the case study regions, and focusing on work package 3 on Innovative Insurance Solutions. Our goals are to contribute to climate resilience in Europe and assist our partners and regions in empowerment to manage the effects of climate change.
This project is funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Programme under Grant Agreement No 101112867.
For more informationen, please contact us.
