Value proposition

Driving greater resilience for people and societies vulnerable to disasters and their associated economic shocks.

The Insurance Development Forum is a public/private partnership led by the insurance industry and supported by international organisations. The IDF was first announced at the United Nations Conference of the Parties (COP21) Paris Climate summit in 2015, and was officially launched by leaders of the United Nations, the World Bank and the insurance industry in 2016.

The IDF aims to optimise and extend the use of insurance and its related risk management capabilities to build greater resilience and protection for people, communities, businesses, and public institutions that are vulnerable to disasters and their associated economic shocks. The IDF brings together industry experts (insurers, reinsurers, brokers) multilateral organisations, non-governmental organisations and public sector institutions that share its objectives and goals.

The IDF’s priorities are driven by the following:

The Global Resilience Challenge – as highlighted in the UN Agenda 2030, middle/low-income countries are disproportionately vulnerable to catastrophic weather and climate-related hazards.

The Protection Gap – the global insurance protection gap is an estimated USD163bn of uninsured/underinsured assets that threaten livelihoods and global prosperity. Emerging economies account for the vast majority of this (USD160bn, or 96%).

The role of insurance - growing evidence indicates that countries with greater penetration of insurance coverage have faster economic recoveries from disasters and rebuild with greater resilience to future disasters.

The need for greater coordination/collaboration - given the scale, scope and complexity of the resilience and protection gap challenge, a coordinated and collaborative approach bringing together the insurance industry and relevant stakeholders is critical to meeting the goals of the UN Agenda 2030.

For details of IDF members from both the public and private sectors, please visit the IDF website.


International Development, Insurance, Disaster Risk Reduction, Climate Resilience, Disaster Resilience, Protection Gap, UN Sustainable Development Goals, Climate and Disaster Risk Finance, and Global Disaster Protection