Aon and UNCDF announced a new, pioneering disaster resilience vehicle to deliver disaster risk financing to Small Island Developing States (SIDS) in the Pacific.

The launch of this groundbreaking vehicle, developed in partnership with UNCDF, and Aon, supports the Sustainable Markets Initiative (SMI) Insurance Task Force’s commitment made at COP26 to drive tangible action to support the resilience of climate vulnerable countries.

The Global Disaster Resilience Vehicle will enhance recovery and resilience, utilising the global reinsurance market as a capacity provider. The vehicle will leverage donor funds committed to the region and utilise local networks to provide exposure-based payments directly to climate-vulnerable communities.

Initially covering Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Samoa, the vehicle will respond to disasters caused by natural perils including tropical cyclone, earthquake, tsunami and flood – with the long-term aim of scaling and replicating the vehicle throughout the Pacific region as well as the Caribbean, Asia and Africa.

Aon will support the scaling up of the UNCDF’s existing programmes to close the protection gap for the populations in the Pacific Islands.

The announcement comes as part of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Samoa, where private sector leaders gathered this week to discuss the sustainability and resilience challenges facing Commonwealth countries, and the practical solutions to support resilience-building initiatives in the communities most affected by climate change.

“Providing access to risk capital to reinforce and augment the work of the UNCDF is an important step in helping the Pacific islands build resilience against natural disasters, and becomes even more important given the potential impacts of climate change. Working with the UNCDF, Lloyd’s, and the DRF represents an exciting collaboration, and underpins our belief that combining our resources and expertise is the most efficient and effective way to develop an ecosystem for disaster risk financing that can benefit the countries and communities that need it most.” Dominic Christian, Global Chairman of Aon Reinsurance Solutions​

“UNCDF has a unique mandate to provide blended financing instruments to emerging economies, including climate-vulnerable SIDS to development challenges like impact of climate change and extreme weather events. Through a combination of grants, guarantees and concessional loans, UNCDF through its climate risk insurance programme partners, aims to support local market ecosystems to deliver sustainable solutions at the last mile to build the resilience and preparedness of vulnerable communities. We are committed to working with the insurance and reinsurance industry to establish this investment vehicle that will be tested in the Pacific, replicated and scaled to other markets.” Pradeep Kurukulasuriya, Executive Secretary, UNCDF