Would your clients’ homes survive a natural disaster? Around the world, more resilient buildings can increase the odds of survival. Here’s what’s happening now.

Over the past 25 years, natural disasters have claimed 1.3 million lives — and most climate scientists agree that the worst is yet to come.

When homes have been damaged by a natural disaster, it makes sense to try to reduce the impact of future events by ‘building back better’. However, the Global Program for Resilient Housing is taking a more proactive approach with #BuildBetterBefore, an initiative aiming to help governments retrofit and strengthen homes before disaster strikes.

In Southeast Asia, governments bear the brunt of the damage due to the insurance gap — the value of assets not covered for damage caused by a catastrophic event. Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines are among the countries most exposed to climate change, yet each has an insurance penetration rate of less than 1 per cent.

In Indonesia, the government has made resilience a central part of its home improvement subsidy program, one of the largest in the world.

A recent initiative is the Green Affordable Housing Program, which includes strategies for protecting cities and human settlements. The program aims to deliver affordable, eco-friendly housing, featuring sustainable building materials and energy-efficient design.

Insurers stepping up

In countries with more widespread insurance protection, insurers can play a role in promoting sustainable approaches to climate resilience. It should be a win-win situation.

In the report Policy opportunities on the road to net zero underwriting, the authors point out that helping policyholders to make their homes and businesses more resilient not only protects properties and livelihoods, but also reduces the value of future claims.

In Australia, Allianz has partnered with the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) to develop Green Specs: an interactive hub that makes it easy for users to see and assess options for greater protection.

“We found that people often felt overwhelmed when looking for ways to make their homes more resilient and sustainable,” says Elham Monavari, head of GBCA’s Green Star Strategic Delivery. “Our priority was to make Green Specs user-friendly.”

The starting point is the floor plan of a home. Users can simply click on a room or an area to see a range of suggestions. They can also apply filters including impact and cost, and whether the user owns or rents the property.

“In bringing Green Specs to life, we aim to highlight ways to make homes more sustainable — from small improvements through to large renovations,” says Sema Whittle, general manager of Sustainability at Allianz.

Small steps, big impact

This year’s Property Owner Climate Resilience report commissioned by the New Zealand Ministry for the Environment confirms that small general maintenance steps can be the gateway to more expensive preventative action.

“People are also concerned about the cost of insurance as premiums continue to rise,” says Monavari.

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