Allianz and Humanity Insured rethink climate change risk

Gabrielle Durisch: Products that provide quick payouts on pre-defined indices, like parametric insurance, are very valuable, especially in places where traditional insurance simply doesn’t work. It’s efficient, fast and transparent. And now, through Humanity Insured, we’re covering premiums for drought insurance into even more fragile contexts, such as food security and climate risk management support in Syria in partnership with the UN World Food Programme (WFP). These solutions deliver pre-arranged, reliable funding when it’s needed most. It’s about restoring certainty in an increasingly uncertain world to displaced people and smallholder farmers before they resort to negative coping strategies after experiencing climate shock. 

Without timely financial support, families often have no choice but to sell productive assets such as livestock or tools, pull children out of school, skip meals or take on high-interest debt. Taking these measures can have long term consequences, restricting the potential of re-investment and growth. That’s why the work we are supporting through Humanity Insured is vital - providing financial security so people don’t have to make a trade off.

Gabrielle Durisch: We are constantly on the lookout for ways in which traditional insurance models can evolve for the benefit of society. Humanity Insured does just that, as this charity uses insurance to shift from reactive to proactive to create lasting impact. We're applying insurance principles to some of the world’s most urgent challenges – climate resilience, food insecurity, displacement – and doing so in a scalable, sustainable way.

It’s also about giving people the confidence to take risks, invest in their futures and bounce back from significant events faster. Allianz is contributing up to £1 million GBP (1.2 million EUR) as a founding partner to Humanity Insured , this funding will be used to subsidize insurance policies for the individuals and organizations who are the policyholders. We see Humanity Insured as a promising model to narrow the protection gaps and increasing the resilience of communities in the long term. It also supports our growth strategy, which focuses on local resilience, productivity, and growth.

Charlie Langdale: The idea came at COP26 (2021) when Prime Minister Mia Mottley of Barbados asked a powerful question: “Where is the private sector?”- a question that stopped me in my tracks. I’ve worked in insurance for 30 years and realized our industry had the tools to play a transformative role in addressing climate change's devastating impacts and to do this at scale.

Humanity Insured was created to channel private sector expertise and funding into scalable insurance solutions. We don’t sell insurance ourselves – we subsidize premiums to  make innovative  protection models accessible and affordable. We work with trusted partners like the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees), WFP (World Food Programme), Tearfund and One Acre Fund to ensure support reaches the most vulnerable people in need.