Page - 317 - in Loss and Damage from Climate Change - Concepts, Methods and Policy Options

Chapter13 ExploringandManagingAdaptation FrontierswithClimateRiskInsurance LauraSchäfer,KokoWarnerandSönkeKreft Abstract Thischapter aims to informtheLoss&Damagedebatebyanalysing the degree towhich insurance can be used as a tool to explore andmanage adaptation frontiers. It establishes that insurance can be used as a navigational tool around adaptationfrontiers in threeways:First,byfacilitating theexplorationofadaptation frontiersbycontributing toa framework for signalling themagnitude, location, and exposure to climate-related risks and providing signalswhen adaptation limits are approached.Second,bysupportingactors inmovingawayfromadaptationlimitsby improvingex-antedecisionmaking,incentivisingriskreductionandcreatingaspace of certainty for climate resilient development. Third, by aiding actors in remaining in the tolerable risk space by facilitatingfinancial buffering as part of contingency approaches.However,wealsofindthat insuranceagainst therisksofclimatechange inmarket termspossesses several limitations.We therefore suggest the embedding ofinsuranceinacomprehensiveclimateriskmanagementapproachaccompaniedby otherriskreductionandmanagementstrategiesaskeyprincipleforanyinternational cooperationapproach to respond toclimatechange impacts. Keywords Loss&Damage ·Resilience ·Climate risk insurance Comprehensiveclimate riskmanagement 13.1 Introduction The idea of adaptation to climatic stressors has emerged as a mainstream risk management strategy to helpmaintain human-ecological systems in a “safe oper- ating space” (Röckström et al. 2009). However, emerging literature underpinning L.Schäfer (B) ·S.Kreft MunichClimate Insurance Initiative (MCII)hostedbyUnitedNationsUniversity–Institute forEnvironmentalSecurity (UNU-EHS),Bonn,Germany e-mail: schaefer@ehs.unu.edu K.Warner UnitedNationsClimateChangeSecretariat (UNFCCC),Bonn,Germany ©TheAuthor(s)2019 R.Mechler et al. (eds.),LossandDamage fromClimateChange,ClimateRisk Management,PolicyandGovernance,https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-72026-5_13 317