Each year, natural catastrophes around the world destroy assets worth hundreds of billions of dollars. It is therefore crucially important for insurers to have a good understanding of the risks and current trends. Munich Re has always collected loss data from around the world and since the 1970s has pooled this expertise in one of the world’s biggest databases for losses caused by natural disasters. 

Even back then, Munich Re experts were seeing plausible indications that a warmer climate as a result of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere could be influencing weather-related disasters. This was the trigger for Munich Re’s natural catastrophe risk research – which ever since has provided the backbone for the insurance of very large risks all over the world. 

<sup>Copyrights Scrollytelling 50 Yrs. Nat Cat risk analysis
1. © Munich Re, 2. © humanizr_AV / Getty Images, 3. © Munich Re, 4. © Munich Re, 
5.  © Munich Re / Marcus Buck, 6. © Munich Re, 7. © Gerhard Berz, 8.  © Chad J.W. Anderson / Getty Images</sup>

They draw on the company’s 50 years of experience in this field to generate new innovations and further refine risk models and systems, like our Location Risk Intelligence Software, which can forecast climate change-related losses for specific portfolios and different climate scenarios. Munich Re was and remains a pioneer in research on global natural hazards and catastrophes of all kinds, and of the role of climate change in weather-related catastrophes.

In a growing number of regions around the world, the frequency or intensity – and in some cases, both – of devastating natural disasters like cyclones, wildfires, droughts and floods are clearly on the rise. With more than five decades’ experience in risk modelling and a profound understanding of data, we can now assess and quantify the risks in connection with natural disasters better than ever before. Relying on our expertise allows companies to make sound choices and develop solutions that reduce risk and boost resilience to climate change impacts.