Insurance is all about risk. The insurance industry is able to help customers understand the level of risk they face, underwrite that risk to give security and respond when the worst happens. The role of insurance has helped underwrite progress for nearly 300 years, protecting customers to get them back on their feet again.

The world’s changing climate presents a new set of risks. WWF and RSA will work together to understand the risks we face in a changing world.

Environmental risks have often been researched in isolation and based on historic data without considering multiple interactions between related issues – known as systemic risk.

Environmental degradation can impact our ability to sustain both the natural world and human life. This impact on our world can have knock-on effects in our political, social and economic systems. It’s essential to look at the whole picture if we want to see the full effects of environmental change and the risks it poses.

We will be producing two briefings a year on the risks of environmental change and their knock-on effects for the insurance industry. The briefings will focus on the impact of climate change on marine activity, fresh water supplies, energy, weather patterns, agriculture and biodiversity.

We aim to raise awareness of environmental risks within the insurance industry and give them solid information on risks they might face and how we can tackle them together. The insurance industry touches all elements of society and the economy in some way.

We hope they will also inspire the industry to take a lead in fighting climate change and environmental degradation.

We intend to use the findings to create a toolkit which highlights how environmental issues and trends affect society and the economy. RSA and WWF will use this toolkit to understand the implications of future trends for political, social and economic systems.

The briefings and toolkit will demonstrate how working globally between business and civil society can make a difference together.