Climate change is changing the characteristics of weather extremes and slow-changing climatic trends (physical climate risk). These shifts combined with the rising concentration of people and assets in high-risk areas, aging infrastructure, and various macroeconomic factors, are leading to growing financial impacts on people, businesses, governments, investors, and insurers. Managing the rising insurance costs and the challenges in finding coverage as well as bridging the huge funding gaps for green technologies and adaptation infrastructure, will require unprecedented cross-sectoral collaboration, innovative risk management, and financing. Re/insurers play a critical role.

Maryam Golnaraghi is the Director of Climate Change and Environment at The Geneva Association, the strategic international think tank of the insurance industry, representing the ninety largest insurers, globally. She leads strategic initiatives through cross-sectoral partnerships to boost the insurance industry’s contributions as risk managers and institutional investors. Over the last 25 years, as a pioneer and a passionate thought leader her career has spanned working as a senior executive, founder & entrepreneur, and international advisor in the private and public sectors and the United Nations. Her work has focused on designing, leading, and managing transformative initiatives, to innovate risk management and develop sustainable core business solutions to expedite and scale up transitioning to a climate-resilient and decarbonized economy. In 2020, she was listed in the 20 ‘Most Influential on Climate Change’ by InsuranceERM and among the top 100 influencers in the world on ‘Resilience’ by The Leaders’ Magazine. Golnaraghi mentors climate tech startups through the Creative Destruction Lab and she served as a senior research fellow at Harvard Business School. She has authored numerous internationally referenced reports on climate change and a book on Multi-Hazard Early Warning Systems (Springer). Her work is regularly featured in the media and on various professional platforms. Golnaraghi earned a Ph.D. in Physical Oceanography, an M.Sc. in Applied Physics from Harvard University, and a B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from Cornell University.