Speakers also placed emphasis on the importance of disaster preparedness and risk management in addressing the uncertainties and challenges posed by these threats.
In his opening remarks, Asian Capital Advisors managing director John Spence said Asia bears a heavy burden, with over 40% of the world’s natural disasters striking our region.
“Insurers and reinsurers are no longer just financial risk managers—they are architects of resilience. You stabilise economies, protect vulnerable populations and enable recovery when disaster strikes. From financing rebuilding efforts to modelling emerging risks and shaping climate-adaptive policies, your role extends far beyond claims. You are system-enablers, forging safety nets that allow governments, industries, and individuals to bounce back stronger,” Mr Spence said.
“The conference serves as a call to action, highlighting innovative solutions such as AI-driven risk modelling, parametric insurance and public-private partnerships to bridge protection gaps. With growing threats from super typhoons, floods and rising sea levels, the event will spotlight regional risk pools, ESG-aligned underwriting, and workforce upskilling to drive resilience and collaboration,” he said.
In his global keynote speech, World Meteorological Organization (WMO) director at regional office for Asia and the South-West Pacific Ben Churchill shared his insights on how the integration of accurate climate science, early warning systems and risk-informed planning can empower insurers, regulators and policymakers to develop more adaptive and forward-looking insurance frameworks, drawing on global insights and data-driven strategies.
“Billions of data points are collected daily—from space, sea, air, and land—feeding into numerical models that produce forecasts and warnings. The WMO envisions a world by 2030 in which all nations, especially the most vulnerable, are more resilient to the socioeconomic impacts of extreme weather, climate, water, and other environmental events,” Mr Churchill said.
At both personal and institutional levels, there is immense interest in weather forecasts.
He said platforms like Google Weather, Apple Weather and The Weather Channel that rely on WMO-coordinated data systems is also essential for insurance applications such as catastrophe modelling, parametric insurance, risk aggregation and regulatory compliance.
For insurers, he said different timescales of climate intelligence matter: nowcasting for immediate hazards, historical climate analysis for trend evaluation and forecasts for months, years, or decades ahead.
“Increasingly, the largest and hardest-to-predict risks are emerging with shorter lead times, while historical trends are becoming less reliable due to climate change,” he said.
“Last year was the hottest on record globally, and in Asia, temperatures averaged just over 1°C above pre-industrial levels. Key hazards include tropical cyclones, significant flooding, heatwaves and droughts- all events that directly affect insurance claims, portfolio risk, and financial stability,” he added.
“The WMO also tracks disasters and economic losses, showing that Asia accounts for nearly half of global disaster-related deaths and the second-highest economic losses. This underscores the importance of early warning systems, climate-resilient insurance products and proactive risk management. Insurers leveraging this intelligence can better protect communities, stabilise markets and promote long-term sustainability,” he said.
Internation Labor Organization senior specialist in occupational safety and health Dr Yuka Ujita focussed her speech on the impact of climate change- especially extreme heat on workers’ health, workplaces and businesses.
“Many might assume that workplace deaths are mostly due to accidents in construction, transportation, or mining. However, less than 12% of workplace deaths are caused by accidents. The vast majority—over 85%—result from work-related diseases,” she said.
“The health impacts of extreme heat go beyond heat stroke and exhaustion. Workers are also at increased risk of cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, and other chronic illnesses. Heat exposure is often accompanied by ultraviolet radiation, which can raise skin cancer risks in some regions, and by vector-borne diseases, as mosquito and insect habitats shift with changing temperatures.
From an insurance perspective, this is highly relevant, Dr Yuka said.
“Understanding these risks is critical for designing effective occupational health coverage, risk management strategies, and insurance products for workers,” she said.
Speaking on protection gaps, Global Asia Insurance Partnership (GAIP) director Dickson Wong said Asia faces one of the world’s largest insurance protection gaps, with low coverage for natural disasters and health risks threatening both economic stability and livelihoods.
“Globally, the protection gap for natural catastrophes is around $400bn, but the health protection gap is even larger at nearly $1tn,” he said.
He noted that Asia accounts for a disproportionate share due to low insurance penetration, cultural perceptions of insurance, limited financial literacy, rapid urbanisation, and high exposure to natural hazards like earthquakes and cyclones.
“Risk reduction lowers insurance costs, insurance incentivizes preventive behaviour and higher coverage reduces the fiscal burden on governments. AI-driven flood models serve as complementary tools for developing countries with limited historical data, helping insurers better predict and price risks,” Mr Wong said.
The 21st Asia Nat CAT and Climate Change Conference organised by Asia Insurance Review runs from 25 to 26 August 2025 in Bangkok, Thailand.