Insurance Development Forum and French Development Agency Launch - IDRIMA - a Groundbreaking Integrated Disaster Risk Management Alliance

Michel Liès, Chair of the IDF Steering Committee and Chair of Zurich Insurance, said: “The IDF and its members are at the forefront of recognising the essential role of insurance in enhancing resilience and adaptation. This alliance with the AFD Group is a significant step forward in our mission to integrate disaster risk management with climate adaptation strategies. By embedding risk management measures and actions into financial solutions from the outset, we can offer better protection measures to sovereigns in addition to ensuring critical infrastructure in the Global South is resilient to disasters over the long-term. This partnership will also help protect essential services such as water and energy, ultimately enhancing the stability and sustainability of communities vulnerable to disaster impacts.”

Christine Poursat, head of AFD Financial Systems said : "Tackling the impacts of climate change requires an unprecedented effort across all sectors of society. The IDF and AFD Group’s joint commitment aims to accelerate the identification and adoption of comprehensive financial solutions to better protect against climate disaster risks.  The alliance will leverage on the private insurance industry’s expertise and work closely with PDBs to develop robust solutions for vulnerable countries, enhancing resilience and adaptation to climate change.”

IDRIMA Context

The annual COP negotiations have highlighted the critical need for Climate Resilience, Adaptation, and Loss and Damage considerations within climate finance. Key financial stakeholders, public and private, are joining forces and expertise to deepen their cooperation.

The Commitment

The IDRIMA Operational initiatives will initially focus on three key areas to provide critical support and expertise and embed issues of risk management, risk financing and insurance into the development of comprehensive financial solutions for Sovereign, Sub Sovereign, Public Development Banks and Public Utilities which are engaging with the AFD Group:

• 1.    Policy Dialogue: better integrating insurers' expertise into policy dialogues, offering insights on disaster risk reduction measures.
• 2.    Default Protection Cover: investigate ways to design and offer protection against sovereign and sub-sovereign defaults in the event of major climate events.
• 3.    Public Asset Financing and Protection: test utilities’ appetite for portfolio-level protection for priority assets against climate risks and financing premiums for protection implementation.

In parallel with the IDRIMA operational initiative, the partnership also involves advocacy and engagement initiatives aimed at increasing the level of collaboration between the public, private and development sectors. The advocacy and engagement initiatives will in particular help share and disseminate this expertise among local and regional public banks.

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Notes to Editors 

About the IDF  

The Insurance Development Forum (IDF) is a public-private partnership led by the insurance industry and supported by international organisations, including the United Nations and the World Bank. 

It was established to facilitate and support the growth and development of insurance-related resources and capabilities to help achieve the objectives of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and related United Nations (UN) Agreements, collectively herein known as the U.N. Global 2030 Agenda. 

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.  

Through its broad membership of insurance sector, governmental and other international institutions, the IDF enables:
 
●    The optimal coordination of insurance-related activities; 
●    The development of shared priorities; 
●    The mobilisation of resources; 
●    The promotion of strategic and operational relationships within and between governments, industry, and international institutions; and 
●    Safeguards the integrity and effectiveness of joint efforts and collective resources. 

For more information please visit: www.insdevforum.org  

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About the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) :

AFD Group contributes to the implementation of France’s policies for sustainable development and international solidarity. The Group includes Agence Française de Développement (AFD), which finances the public sector, NGOs, research and training; its subsidiary Proparco, which is dedicated to the private sector; and Expertise France, a technical cooperation agency. The Group finances, supports and accelerates the transitions needed for a fairer, more resilient world.
With our partners, we are building shared solutions with and for the people in more than 150 countries, as well as in 11 French Overseas Departments and Territories. As part of the commitment of France and the French people to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, our teams are at work on 4,200 projects in the field. Our objective is to reconcile economic development with the preservation of common goods, from peace, the climate and biodiversity to health, education and gender equality. Towards a world in common.
Expertise France is France’s public agency and interministerial actor in charge of international technical cooperation, the second-largest in Europe. As a subsidiary of Agence Française de Développement Group (AFD Group), it designs and implements projects that sustainably strengthen public policies in developing and emerging countries. Expertise France works in key areas of development: governance, security, climate change, health, education, and more. Alongside its partners, it contributes to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Know-how in common.