A Human Rights-based Approach to Climate Risk Insurance

With climate change extreme weather events such as floods, droughts or storms are increasing in frequency and severity. They put people and their livelihoods under risk – especially the poorest and most vulnerable communities in developing countries. The need for managing these climate risks is becoming more pressing as global temperatures rise. Tools that have been gaining attention and promotion in recent years are climate risk insurance and insurance-related instruments. When designed carefully, they can buffer some of the risks by providing financial support in the aftermath of an extreme weather event. In order to secure that insurance schemes are designed and implemented so that they do no harm and the poorest and most vulnerable can benefit from such schemes, the call has been made for a human rights-based approach to climate risk insurance. its embodiment still remains vague, though. This paper aims at helping to fill this gap. It presents conditions for and design choices of climate risk insurance and insurance-related instruments that can ensure an effective, efficient and human-rights-based contribution to climate risk management that benefits those most in need and discusses which actors to involve.