Ahead of the upcoming COP26 Summit, the Global Federation of Insurance Associations (GFIA) has today published its key principles for more resilient and sustainable construction.

The concept of “build and rebuild better” has been in use for several years in the context of reconstruction after physical disasters and is a key component in improving infrastructure and construction resilience, and successfully implementing adaption strategies to address climate risks.

Given that natural hazards are on the rise both in terms of frequency and severity, climate adaptation considerations should lie at the very heart of building norms and processes. GFIA has therefore identified three key principles for more resilient and sustainable construction:

• Build in a more resilient way — To avoid recurring disasters, for example, identical reconstruction after a natural disaster should not be the default. Building back better in a more resilient way is a significant building block of integrated disaster risk management.
• Build with green materials and circularity — Sustainable/recycled products should be used in construction to increase resource efficiency and to develop green infrastructure.
• Co-finance better resilience — If reconstruction requires resilience improvements that contain new elements and exceed the insurer’s indemnity, for example, complementary funding should be provided by public authorities, for instance in the form of an interest-free bank loan. Furthermore, by making long-term sustainable investments in infrastructure while meeting contractual obligations to policyholders, insurers support both the transition to a low-carbon economy and the availability of insurance protection.