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Summary
Climate change has the potential to reshape the property insurance market. States and regions that have not been typically viewed as natural catastrophe prone are now facing additional perils, from the increase in floods in Iowa to wildfires in Colorado. This shift is impacting both “acute” risks, such as flood, hurricanes, and wildfires, and “chronic” risks, like rising sea levels, drought and water stress, and periods of extreme heat and cold.
Winners in the insurance industry in the next five to 10 years will be those who are better able to harness climate data to better understand shifting risks. They’ll have the potential to be nimbler and more targeted in their underwriting and risk selection.
Discussion Questions Include:
- Overview of available climate data and how it is used today
- Where climate change has already impacted risks
- How climate data can help manage aggregate exposures
- How to better incorporate climate data into long-term portfolio planning
- What are the impact of new SEC regulations on product innovation, modeling and data?
Speaker
Pradeep Venkatesh
Associate Director of ESG Strategy
Pradeep is the Associate Director of ESG Strategy for Horizons at S&P Global.
Pradeep is the Associate Director of ESG Strategy for Horizons at S&P Global. He is responsible for leading S&P Horizons’s strategy and outreach for the banking and insurance sectors, with a focus on climate financial risk and carbon accounting for financials. Prior to joining S&P Global, Pradeep focused on financial and economic analysis for renewable energy and sustainability challenges within the investment banking and economic consulting industries. Pradeep holds an MBA from Yale University, a Masters in Economic Research from Cambridge University, and the CFA and FRM designations.
Liz Henderson
Head of Climate Risk Advisory
Liz Henderson is a Catastrophe and Climate Risk specialist with twenty years of experience in risk analytics and risk consulting for U.S. P&C Insurance Carriers. Liz leads Aon Re’s Climate Risk Advisory group which provides consulting, bespoke catastrophe model adjustments and climate hazard data to help organizations develop a View of Risk that considers both current and future impacts aligned with selected climate change scenarios.
Her team of industry experts has market-leading understanding of how organizations can adopt, interpret, translate, and implement climate data into existing workflows and business decisions.
Additionally, Liz is the Head of U.S. Catastrophe Analytics, leading a team of modelers, actuaries, and data scientists providing reinsurance clients with risk quantification, property cat underwriting and pricing, portfolio optimization, and the structuring and pricing of traditional and non-traditional reinsurance programs including capital market transactions.
Liz positions her team as a key differentiator in developing solutions in support of a client’s strategic objectives. Liz has been recognized as a Woman-In-Insurance Leadership by Dig-In for her work in advancing the role of technology and advanced analytics in the insurance industry. She received her B.A. in Mathematics and Philosophy from Northwestern University.
Tobias Grimm
Head of Climate Advisory and NatCat Data
Tobias Grimm is Head of Climate Advisory and NatCat Data with Munich Re’s Climate Change Solutions Department.
Tobias Grimm is Head of Climate Advisory and NatCat Data with Munich Re’s Climate Change Solutions Department. His team is responsible for developing climate related business solutions including data services and advisory within the group division Strategy & Innovation. Tobias has a long track record as Senior Expert for natural hazards, climate change and renewable energies. From 2020 until 2023, he helped to launch a climate banking project and built up a Greentech sales pipeline for Munich Re of Australia in Sydney. Over many years, he has been Deputy Head of Chief Climate Scientist for the Munich Re Group and contributed a lot to Munich Re’s positioning on climate change. In 2005, Tobias joined Munich Re. He holds a Master’s degree in geography and applied meteorology from the LMU - University of Munich.
Steve Bowen
Chief Science Officer
Steve has nearly two decades of insurance industry experience and is currently Chief Science Officer at Gallagher Re.
Steve has nearly two decades of insurance industry experience and is currently Chief Science Officer at Gallagher Re. He initially turned his love of weather into an academic background in meteorology by starting his professional career in television before intentionally jumping into the insurance realm. A key motivation of his day-to-day work features the emerging and evolving trends associated with increasing weather volatility, climate change, population and exposure patterns, and natural hazard-related financial losses. He strives to implement data analytics and direct advisory to help clearly communicate evolving hazard risks, loss trends, and broader market challenges facing the insurance industry and beyond. An increasingly vital part of his work includes providing expertise to new strategies focused on combating the complexities of physical and non-physical risk posed by climate change. This complements further focus on critical issues within the ESG space and helping clients transition their portfolios to meet the demands of a net-zero carbon emission world. Steve earned his Master of Science in Business Analytics degree from the University of Notre Dame, and his Bachelor of Science degree in Meteorology from Florida State University.
Moderator
Meg Green
Senior Editor
Meg Green is managing editor of Insider Engage.
Meg Green is managing editor of Insider Engage. Meg is a former daily newspaper journalist who joined the Insurance Insider family after a storied 23-year career with AM Best.
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