In 2024, Howden, Resilient Cities Network and the Sustainable Markets Initiative built on the successful implementation of the inaugural 2023 Fellowship to deliver the second year of the Global Risk and Resilience Fellowship.
The Fellowship connects the risk expertise of the global insurance industry with city leaders on the climate front line, working
to make our cities and society more resilient and to create a more sustainable future for all. Insurance professionals are selected as ‘Fellows’ and seconded for between three to six months to work with the city’s Chief Resilience Officers (CROs) and other city stakeholders such as those involved in budgeting and strategic long-term planning.
Together, city leaders and Fellows address a specific focus area for building urban resilience, and explore how private sector expertise – particularly from within the insurance sector – can be incorporated into the city’s resilience planning.
The 2024 Fellowship worked with five cities across three continents: Manchester, UK; Lagos, Nigeria; Norfolk, USA; Oakland, USA; and Cape Town, South Africa.
This report explores each project and the key learnings around opportunities through long-term collaboration to unlock resilience solutions, the value of combined input of cities, insurance and finance, and the key steps to unlocking adaptation finance by pricing the cost of inaction.
We extend our thanks to our partners cities and our collaborators in this project, Howden and Sustainable Markets Initiative.
The need to respond to the challenges posed by climate change is becoming increasingly pressing. The work under the Fellowship has accelerated our understanding of the costs of failing to adapt our water infrastructure to the future risk of flooding events. It has also assisted in developing a compelling narrative with a robust evidence base to drive greater investment and action on climate resilience.
Kathy Oldham
Chief Resilience Officer
Greater Manchester
The City of Norfolk is a global resilience frontrunner, and implementer of cutting edge financial and social resilience challenges. The Global Risk and Resilience Fellowship is providing Norfolk with the expertise to bring down Norfolk’s resilience exposure whilst leveraging our finance and insurance goals.
Kyle Spencer
Chief Resilience Officer
City of Norfolk
Aside from the obvious challenges in responding to flooding in informal settlements, this work has helped us to develop a much richer understanding of how flooding risk undermines the economic stability of these communities and starts to point toward the developmental value of supporting their resilience rather than just reacting to flooding events.
Daniel Sullivan
Chief Resilience Officer
City of Cape Town
The rising cost and inaccessibility of fire insurance are among the highest concerns for residents throughout the community. This Fellowship and its results have provided us not only with high-quality data and analysis of risk management strategies but also with a clearer understanding of actions the City can take to manage this challenge. The Resilience program in Oakland will be stronger as a result.
Daniel Hamilton
Chief Resilience Officer
City of Oakland
Lagos State’s participation in the Global Risk and Resilience Fellowship reflects our commitment to building a city that can withstand shocks and stresses. Our participation in this Fellowship is driven by our vision for a resilient Lagos – a city that not only adapts to challenges but emerges stronger from them. We expect this partnership to shape the policies and investments that will safeguard our economy, environment and communities for future generations.
Folayinka Dania
Chief Resilience Officer
City of Lagos
Tangible, innovative solutions are needed across cities to address the polycrisis reality. By harnessing the collective power and knowledge of cities and the private sector, the Fellowship has been able to explore innovative ways of addressing risk and drive meaningful investment in the future of our cities.
Lauren Sorkin
Executive Director
Resilient Cities Network
Joining forces with urban leaders as well as experts in insurance, climate finance, and engineering, they devised imaginative responses to complex risks in five new cities. But, as climate change accelerates, our response must continue keeping pace – with every bit of investment targeted to make an immediate impact.
David Howden
CEO, Howden
Member of the Sustainable Markets Initiative Insurance Task Force
We look forward to expanding our partnerships and collaboration between the insurance sector and the urban resilience movement in the years to come.