The Geneva Association (GA) and Wellcome have recently published a joint report providing a clear framework for understanding how climate change impacts people’s health. This report also offers recommendations for health and life insurance companies on addressing these risks.
While insurance firms are familiar with handling claims related to property damage from extreme weather events linked to climate change, the report underscores that the health impacts are often overlooked.
Various risks need consideration, ranging from immediate concerns like respiratory issues due to wildfires and strokes from heatwaves, to chronic risks such as the spread of disease-carrying insects due to temperature shifts.
Additionally, air pollution, a byproduct of fossil fuel consumption driving climate change, poses further health risks.
Although the impact on health and life insurers has not been significant yet, the report suggests it is expected to increase as climate change intensifies.
To effectively address these risks and protect society, the report recommends insurers focus on innovation, such as offering parametric insurance that triggers payouts when specific events occur.
They also recommend promoting behaviours that benefit both the climate and health, while addressing data challenges related to measuring climate-related health risks.
Jad Ariss, Managing Director of The Geneva Association, highlights the effects of climate change on physical and mental health, noting, “Changes in climate conditions reduce biodiversity, impact food supplies and spread and exacerbate disease. The climate crisis itself has become a mental health issue. Working to better understand and reduce these risks will help keep them insurable.”
Madeleine Thompson, Head of Climate Impacts and Adaption at Wellcome, states, “We need more research on the health impacts of climate change so that health and life insurers can develop products to help manage these risks, particularly where it can support the expansion of insurance cover to disadvantaged populations in countries most vulnerable to climate risk.”
“We’re beginning to see this emerge with the deployment of parametric insurance products, for example, to protect women working in India’s informal sector from heat-related illness,” Thompson adds.
