As COP30 convenes under the banner of accelerating climate finance and adaptation, the Resilience Risk Pools alliance — comprising the African Risk Capacity Limited (ARC Ltd.), CCRIF SPC (the Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility of the Caribbean and Central America), the Pacific Catastrophe Risk Insurance Company (PCRIC), and the Southeast Asia Disaster Risk Insurance Facility (SEADRIF) — reiterates our shared commitment to championing innovative, people- and impact-focused disaster finance.
The escalating cost of climate-related disasters highlights the urgency of pre-arranged, predictable finance for governments. Disaster risk finance is not only about faster recovery — it’s about empowering countries to plan ahead, protect public assets, and safeguard development gains. The Resilience Risk Pools acknowledge the call at COP30 for concrete pathways to scale adaptation finance, and our collective experience demonstrates how financial preparedness and innovative insurance solutions can help operationalize global resilience goals.
Innovation in Action
Faith-Based Finance for Climate Protection in Africa
In 2025, ARC Ltd. broke new ground by launching the ARC Re-Takaful WAQF Facility, a Shariah-compliant climate protection mechanism on the continent. Designed as a non-profit facility, it provides faith-aligned, community-based insurance solutions for millions of Africans vulnerable to droughts, floods, and other climate disasters.
Across Africa, more than 700 million people remain unprotected from the devastating effects of climate shocks, and among them an estimated 300 million belong to the Islamic community, many of whom lack access to coverage that complies with their faith. Through ARC Re-Takaful, these communities can now access rapid, transparent, and solidarity-driven payouts, ensuring that recovery support reaches those who previously had no coverage.
The Facility also strengthens local resilience by empowering domestic Takaful operators, reinvesting surpluses into grants and community programmes, and bridging the gap between Islamic finance and disaster-risk protection. Recognised with the Resilient Re-Takaful Finance Innovator Award 2025, this initiative embodies ARC Ltd.’s commitment to inclusive innovation, ensuring that Africa’s resilience leaves no one behind.
CCRIF’s Regional Risk Pooling Model as a Catalyst for Global Action Ahead of COP30
As climate risks intensify, CCRIF is demonstrating how regional risk pools can deliver rapid, equitable, and scalable disaster financing. Grounded in parametric insurance and pre-arranged liquidity, CCRIF has become a cornerstone for loss and damage in the Caribbean and Central America.
CCRIF now serves 35 members and has 7 parametric insurance products. Recent innovations include a fluvial flood model for inland flooding and the Livelihood Protection Policy, a microinsurance product for vulnerable groups.
CCRIF disbursed US$91.9M to Jamaica after Hurricane Melissa in November 2025, US$84.5M to seven members after Hurricane Beryl in 2024. To date, CCRIF has made 82 payouts totaling US$483M all within 14 days of the events, reinforcing its role as a reliable, trusted and responsive financial mechanism.
CCRIF continues to scale coverage, develop new sector-specific products, and is investing in climate justice, including a detection and attribution grant to The UWI. As a Global Shieldaligned mechanism, CCRIF offers a replicable model for resilience financing. The message is clear: regional innovation can drive global action, and parametric power is central to the future of climate resilience.
Renewal of Innovative Climate and Disaster Risk Insurance by PCRIC and WTW to Help Close the Protection Gap in the Pacific
In November 2024, the Pacific Catastrophe Risk Insurance Company (PCRIC), in collaboration with WTW (NASDAQ: WTW), a leading global advisory, broking, and solutions company, announced the renewal of its portfolio of policies for governments and government-affiliated entities in Pacific Island countries and territories, together with the associated reinsurance placement.
PCRIC developed the new policy designs with support from WTW’s Disaster Risk Finance (DRF) and Alternative Risk Transfer (ART) teams, with the successful renewal of its reinsurance portfolio aiming to enhance access to improved disaster risk insurance coverage for the Pacific region.
PCRIC provides insurance for tropical cyclones, heavy rain, earthquake, and tsunami risk to 8 Pacific governments: the Cook Islands, Fiji, Niue, Tonga, Samoa, Vanuatu, Federated States of Micronesia and Solomon Islands. For 2024/25, the Papua New Guinea state-owned telecommunications company PNG DataCo and the Vatuvara Foundation in Fiji, were also policyholders.
With climate change intensifying natural hazards in the region, PCRIC’s insurance tools provide critical pre-planned protection for people, governments, economic and natural assets and essential infrastructure services.
New Models for People-Centric Climate Insurance by SEADRIF
In 2025, SEADRIF launched a groundbreaking multi-peril parametric insurance policy for Lao PDR — the first of its kind to use nationally reported disaster impact data as the trigger for payouts. This innovation reduces basis risk, enhances transparency, and ensures that insurance responds directly to community needs on the ground.
Its effectiveness was demonstrated in September 2025, when SEADRIF made a USD 2 million payout to Lao PDR following multiple medium-sized disasters — disbursed just six days after the national disaster management office’s final impact report.
SEADRIF continues to collaborate with ASEAN nations to strengthen climate resilience, with upcoming initiatives including the SEADRIF Sovereign Asset and Fiscal Empowerment (SEADRIF-SAFE) Facility, spearheaded alongside the Philippines Department of Finance. As the climate crisis intensifies, the Resilience Risk Pools alliance is forging the next generation of disaster finance solutions to protect lives, livelihoods, and economies.
From climate insurance products for the agricultural sector, enabling earlier response and improved food security, to new parametric models that capture localized disaster risks and expand coverage, the four risk pools are working closely with member countries to strengthen financial resilience.
Building on our advocacy at COP28 and COP29 — including engagement through the Global Shield Solutions Platform (GSSP) Forum — the four regional risk pools continue to amplify the potential for disaster risk financing solutions to address climate vulnerability.
Our collaboration extends beyond these global platforms through ongoing communication, shared learning, and coordinated outreach. Together, we remain focused on closing the protection gap and ensuring that member countries have the financial tools to act swiftly, recover strongly and build a more resilient future.
We invite stakeholders to follow our current and upcoming initiatives across the four regions and partner with us to push forward financial preparedness against disaster risk.
Background
Resilience Risk Pools 🌐 https://resilienceriskpools.com/
Cyclones, Floods, Droughts, Earthquakes, Tsunamis, and other natural disasters wreak extreme levels of havoc not only on people and property but also on governments and resources. When nations pool their risks with other nations, they can weather the financial burdens of these disasters more effectively. The Resilience Risk Pools comprise the world’s foremost sovereign, risk pooling organizations - the African Risk Capacity Ltd (ARC Ltd), CCRIF SPC (the Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility of the Caribbean and Central America), the Pacific Catastrophe Risk Insurance Company (PCRIC), and the Southeast Asia Disaster Risk Insurance Facility (SEADRIF). The Resilience Risk Pools and partners work together to advance awareness, education, and resource development to bring greater attention and financial commitment to disaster risk financing solutions.
About the Regional Risk Pools
African Risk Capacity Limited (ARC Ltd.) 🌐 arcltd.org
African Risk Capacity Limited (ARC Ltd) is the insurance arm of the African Risk Capacity (ARC) Group, a specialized institution of the African Union. The company provides innovative climate risk insurance solutions to help African Union Member States and their partners better prepare for, respond to, and recover from natural disasters. Since its inception, ARC Ltd has provided coverage for more than 160 million people across the continent and has disbursed over USD 240 million in payouts to support early action and recovery.
CCRIF SPC (the Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility of the Caribbean and Central America) 🌐 ccrif.org
CCRIF SPC is the Caribbean and Central America Parametric Insurance Facility and Development Insurer. It is the world’s first multi-country, multi-peril risk pool based on parametric insurance and the leading provider of parametric insurance for Caribbean and Central American governments, as well as electric utility companies and water utilities. CCRIF offers parametric insurance for tropical cyclones, excess rainfall, runoff, earthquakes, and the fisheries and electric and water utilities sectors – insurance products not readily available in traditional insurance markets. CCRIF SPC is a segregated portfolio company, owned, operated, and registered in the Caribbean. It limits the financial impact of catastrophic hurricanes, earthquakes, and excess rainfall events by quickly providing shortterm liquidity when a parametric insurance policy is triggered.
Pacific Catastrophe Risk Insurance Company (PCRIC) 🌐 pcric.org
PCRIC is owned for the benefit of the island nations of the Pacific and is a specialist provider of disaster risk financevservices and solutions to the region. It delivers a programme of support built on leading-edge technical assistance,vtargeted collaborations, and innovative product options. Our mission is to help nations better prepare, structure, andvmanage finances to foster disaster resilience and ensure rapid access to funds when they are needed most.
Southeast Asia Disaster Risk Insurance Facility (SEADRIF) 🌐 seadrif.org
SEADRIF is an ASEAN+3 regional platform that offers participating nations advisory and financial services tovstrengthen their financial resilience in response to climate risks. The SEADRIF Insurance Company is licensed as avgeneral insurance company in Singapore and works closely with member countries to develop insurance solutionsvthat help governments manage costs when natural disasters hit.
