Securitizing the Risks of Climate Change: Institutional Innovations in the Insurance of Catastrophic Risk

Summary, in English

The present vulnerability of regions, communities and activities, to changes in the

frequency, intensity and distribution of extreme meteorological conditions presents a

problem that may be complicated by climate change. Society has many different ways

of responding to catastrophic risks and distributing the financial losses. This paper

contrasts different approaches on grounds of efficiency and equity. The main focus is on

securitization: a new mechanism for spreading risks that is of interest to insurance

companies to assure the supply of adequate financial capacity, and also to governments

as the insurers of last resort. The 1997 flood in Poland that amounted to a cost of 3% of

GDP is analysed, and securitization is proposed as a possible alternative to traditional

insurance for ex ante coverage of the risk.

• Author: Johannes Stripple
• Department/s: Department of Political Science
• Publishing year: 1998
• Language: English
• Publication/Series: Interim Report
• Links: http://www.iiasa.ac.at/Publications/Documents/IR-98-098.pdf
• Document type: Report
• Publisher: International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis
• Topic: Political Science
• Keywords: Internationell politik
• Status: Published