The scale of today's climate risk can no longer be managed in isolation. As climate-driven events continue to impact both people and property across the region, the opportunity and the responsibility lies in collaboration: between insurers, governments, communities, and organizations working toward a shared goal. By harnessing data to strengthen preparedness, rethink risk management strategies, and build partnerships built for speed and scale, the industry can move from responding to disasters to building lasting resilience. Climate risk doesn't respect organizational boundaries, and neither can the solution. It will take insurers, governments, communities, and industry working together, backed by smarter data and stronger partnerships, to move from recovery to resilience.
Forecasts from WMO’s Global Producing Centres indicate an “exceptionally high likelihood of nearly 100%” that El Niño will persist through to February 2027. This is the first time that a WMO El Niño/La Niña Update has been so unequivocal, reflecting the strong agreement within WMO’s extensive network. Fueled by exceptionally warm ocean conditions across the tropical Pacific, El Niño is expected to strengthen further during the coming months to a very strong intensity before peaking towards the end of this year, with climate impacts continuing well into 2027.
El Niño is being supersized before our eyes. The science leaves no room for doubt: the planet is in uncharted waters, and those waters are heating up. Sea surface temperatures are rising, temperatures keep climbing, and the world is in the danger zone of extreme weather. The race now is between rising risks and our commitment to take climate action and protect people. We must win that race,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres ( Source: World Meteorological Organization (WMO), Press Release, September 3, 2026)
Floods, earthquakes, and tropical storms together dominate the region's natural disaster losses, placing unprecedented pressure on insurers and reinsurers to rethink resilience, pricing, and capital strategy. From monsoon-driven flooding across South and Southeast Asia, to seismic exposure along the Pacific Ring of Fire, to intensifying typhoon activity sweeping East and Southeast Asia the region sits at the convergence of the world's most destructive peril types. What was once considered episodic risk is now a structural feature of doing business across Asian markets.
For insurers and reinsurers, the implications go far beyond claims. Portfolio concentration, capital adequacy, catastrophe modeling accuracy, and reinsurance treaty design are all being tested by a risk landscape that is shifting faster than historical data can predict. Climate change is not a future consideration it is already rewriting loss curves, correlation assumptions, and return-period calculations across the industry.
The deadly flash floods in the country's border with Tibet could result in insured losses of over $130m, according to senior industry officials. The floods have resulted in over 1300 deaths and economic losses of over $2.56bn in the Himalayan nation. With eleven hydropower projects based in the affected region, most claims are likely to be from this segment, as these projects are covered by standard commercial insurance policies that are still being assessed. (Cited from Asia Insurance Review)
Indonesia’s forest and land fires could inflict up to Rp 123.1 trillion ($6.93 billion) in economic and health losses from January to August 2026, an estimate that could rise further if the fires continue spreading through the end of the year, the Center of Economic and Law Studies (Celios) said Wednesday. (Cited from JakartaGlobe.ID )
The Philippines ranks among the most disaster-prone countries globally due to its high levels of exposure and vulnerability to natural hazards. Approximately 60 percent of the national land area is exposed to various hazards, while an estimated 74 percent of the population is vulnerable to multiple, overlapping risks. Climate-related hazards constitute the most frequently occurring disasters in the country. Each year, typhoons, storm surges, and intense rainfall events affect millions of people, particularly in urban areas, and significantly disrupt economic activities. (Cited from Asian Disaster Reduction Center ADRC)
China is a textbook case of a country frequently hit by all kinds of natural disasters, especially by weather-related natural disasters heavily influenced by climate change. From an economic perspective, however, it is the economic loss that counts. According to statistics of the China Meteorological Administration, weather-related natural disaster losses account for around 70 per cent or more among the various types of natural disasters and provide figures on economic losses caused by natural disasters from 2000 to 2012, comparing them with GDP and its development. Total loss caused by natural disasters exceeded RMB 160 billion every year since 2000. It is now valued at RMB 323.64 billion, with an average annual increase of 13 per cent. This increase by far exceeds the increase in GDP, which has averaged nearly10 per cent per annum during the past thirteen years. This means that losses caused by natural disasters have been an increasing burden on the Chinese economy. (Cited from International Journal of Climate Change Strategies and Management)
For Malaysia the economic exposure is just as striking. According to Bank Negara Malaysia, roughly two-thirds of estimated losses from the 2021 floods, about RM4 billion, were not covered by insurance. Nationwide, close to 74% of Malaysian homeowners carry no flood insurance at all, and only around 43% of households hold any fire and home policy, according to the General Insurance Association of Malaysia. That gap means households, businesses, and ultimately the government absorb most of the cost when the water rises.
The scale of the challenge is staggering. The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction estimates direct global disaster losses averaged $180-200 billion annually between 2001 and 2020; counting cascading effects, the total exceeds $2.3 trillion. Malaysia’s own flood losses swing sharply: the December 2021-January 2022 floods, the worst in decades, cost an estimated RM6.1 billion, equivalent to 0.40% of GDP, before easing to RM622 million (0.03% of GDP) in 2022 and RM755 million (0.04%) in 2023, then climbing to RM933 million (0.05%) in 2024. ( Cited from BusinessToday)
Across every market, the trend is the same: losses are outpacing coverage, and the protection gap is widening. Closing it will take insurers rethinking product design, pricing, and distribution; reinsurers strengthening capital resilience and treaty structures for a risk landscape historical models can no longer predict; and government regulators championing the policy frameworks, partnerships, and mandatory coverage schemes that make resilience a national priority, not an afterthought.
Asia's catastrophe risk isn't slowing down and neither should you. Join insurance and reinsurance leaders from across the region at the 23rd Asia Nat CAT and Climate Change Conference, hosted by Asia Insurance Review, and help shape the strategies that will define underwriting resilience for years to come. Secure your delegate seat today. For speaking and sponsorship opportunity please contact Ms. Erica Belicena- Conference Producer / erica@asiainsurancereview.com