Poverty Reduction, Social Security and Management of Climate Risk – provision of insurance with public-private partnership

Climate risk is regarded as the key risks for global economic and societal sustainability. The 2018 Global Risk Report (WEF, 2018) has listed extreme weather events, natural disasters and failure to climate change mitigation and adaptation amongst the top five global risks. These risks are also closely linked to the milestones of several UN Sustainable Development Goals e.g., poverty reduction, quality education, good health and wellbeing, etc. (UN General Assembly, 2015). Scientists have already warned society about the severe environmental effect due to climate risk on the planet (McKenna et al, 2017; Jiang et al, 2015; Filho et al, 2017; Payo et al, 2016; Mirza et al, 2003). Likewise, economists predicted the implication of climate risk on the global economy. The social scientists are concerned with the potential negative changes on the social value system in terms of poverty, health, education and food security. The finance and investment professionals have started to consider ESG (environmental, social and governance) factors in pricing risk in their investment decisions (UNEP FI & EBCSD, 2010).

It is claimed that the citizens of developing countries are the primary victims of climate risk. Amongst them, countries like Bangladesh stay on the top of the list for several years (World Bank, 2014; Hanson, 2011). With the help of international communities, as well as government initiatives, this country (for example) has achieved remarkable success in protecting its citizens from climate risk through the development of infrastructure and a resilience system. These techniques might be efficient and effective to manage the ex-ante shocks of climate risk. However, the long-term ex-post shocks of climate risk are more severe than ex-ante as this affects the victims holistically in many ways; including but not limited to employability, poverty, health (Watkiss & Hunt, 2012), education and food security leading to urban migration (Gemenne, 2014). Unfortunately, no integrated technique to protect the victims from the ex-post crisis and shocks of climate risk has yet been developed.

Aims:
Recent research argues that due to the lack of co-ordination amongst several stakeholders, it is important to develop an integrated and holistic approach to address the ex-post vulnerability of climate risk victims in terms of associated environmental, social, governance and economic (ESG) factors (Acharyya et al, 2017). Consequently, the aim of this study is to investigate, produce and empirically test a sustainable interdisciplinary and holistic climate risk financing model to protect the interests of climate risk victims.

Specific requirements of the project:
The successful applicant should have knowledge and an understanding on insurance economies, microinsurance, social security and the theory of risk financing. Previous experience of primary data collection and skill on both qualitative and quantitative data analyses are desirable. Additionally, research experience in microfinance or microinsurance institutions at the regional level will be preferred.