CAS Issues Request for Proposals to Examine Climate-Related Actuarial Considerations for General Insurers in Asia, Africa, and/or Central and South America

The CAS is issuing a Request for Proposals (RFP) for a research paper which studies and discusses climate-related actuarial considerations for general insurers in Asia, Africa, and/or South and Central America.

About the Casualty Actuarial Society (CAS)

The Casualty Actuarial Society (CAS) is a global leader in general insurance, with a growing membership of over 10,000 members around the world. Our members are experts in property and casualty, reinsurance, finance, risk management, and enterprise risk management. Professionals educated by the CAS empower businesses and governments to solve problems and make well-informed strategic, financial, and operational decisions. To continuously expand and enhance the skills of the modern actuary, the CAS supports research in a variety of areas. The vast array of CAS publications encompass the theoretical aspects of actuarial science as well as the practical business facets of building the profession in general insurance. The CAS is an active and full member of the International Actuarial Association.

The CAS Research Council

The CAS Research Council was formed in 2021 to prioritize the research needs of the general insurance actuarial community. This work augments the existing work of standing research working groups which focus on specific practice areas like ratemaking, reserving, reinsurance, and risk analysis. The operational oversight of projects is designated to a project oversight group (POG) made up of CAS staff and volunteers.

Research Problem Description

Climate-related risks are a growing factor for general insurers globally. Actuaries and other investment and risk management professionals are continually looking to strengthen methods for calculating, predicting, and navigating these risks.

The research will investigate key considerations for actuaries supporting their companies in climate-related risk identification and management and may include approaches, models, case studies, and lessons learned. Potential topics include, but are not restricted to:

• Specific modeling relating to region-specific climate and catastrophe events.
• Approaches to consider for scenario analysis of climate risk impact on general insurers.
• Models and challenges related to long-range modelling and forecasting for general insurers. For example, a multidecadal model linking general insurance costs to future Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) climate scenarios.
• Emerging climate risks and their impacts on both vulnerable & resilient populations.
• Impact of compound (multi-peril and/or multi-hazard) events on risk management frameworks.
• Emerging climate-related regulation and disclosure requirements in target markets. For example, the effects of disclosure requirements on potential litigation against general insurers or on the risks they insure.
• Resiliency and mitigation/adaption models for risk management. For example, economic and/or insurable risk impact from changes in building materials.
• Decarbonization and its relationship to the insurance industry.
• Techniques for greenhouse gas emissions measurement.
• Use of alternative risk transfer methods and sources to address general insurance risk from climate change. For example, how general insurers might partner with investors with heightened risk appetite for systemic risk.
• Vulnerable populations, protection gaps, and how insurance solutions can help improve outcomes. For example, measurement of risk to crop yields and illustration of financial risk products which may mitigate such risks.

Proposed hypotheses and research designs should be new and not duplicative of existing publicly available materials. Projects that incorporate a regional or multi-country focus are encouraged.

Project Requirements

The end product of the research should be a paper, in English, saved as (or converted to) a Microsoft Word file. The length should be sufficient to give meaningful, practical guidance to practitioners in a way that is concise yet complete. This typically means a paper of 20-50 pages. Those page counts should be regarded as rough guidelines only.

Where actuarial/statistical methods are used, they should have sound foundations, rooted in established principles. With that understood, the techniques within a method should be intelligible to an actuary working general insurance. Moreover, a method’s output should be explainable to insurance industry decision makers who may not have the experience or education of an actuary.

We understand that this brief may rely on technologies which are generally understood within IT and engineering circles. Authors should understand that although actuaries are technically literate, they are not necessarily fluent in all the technologies that a paper might present, and therefore any technologies discussed should be introduced in the paper.

Proposal Requirements

A complete proposal will include the following items:

• The name and contact information of the lead researcher/primary contact for the project;
• The detailed hypothesis to be addressed in the research paper and why it is significant for actuarial professionals and how it will expand current knowledge on the topic. Please also describe how this work is new and not duplicative of existing material;
• An outline of the approach to be used (examples: literature reviews, models, etc.). Details should be given regarding the techniques to be used, material to be consulted, and possible limitations of the analysis;
• Resumes of the researcher(s) indicating how their education, skills, and experience are related to their qualifications to undertake the research;
• A project timeline with key milestones that also includes submission of a draft report to the CAS for questions and comments to be considered and addressed in the preparation of the final product. Please plan for up to six weeks to receive feedback on your draft report from the CAS in your timeline.
• A detailed budget of no more than $40,000 USD that includes estimated numbers of hours per research team member and their associated hourly rates and any other direct or indirect costs (technology, materials, etc.). The budget should be reasonable in relation to the design of the research project.

Timeline and selection

The selection of a proposal is conditioned upon and not considered final until a Letter of Agreement is executed by both the CAS and the researcher.

The CAS will award to the respondent who - in the judgment of the CAS and entirely based on their written proposal - is best able to perform the work as specified herein. The CAS reserves the right to not award a contract for this research. Reasons for not awarding a contract could include, but are not limited to, a lack of acceptable proposals or a finding that insufficient funds are available. The CAS also reserves the right to redirect the project as is deemed advisable.

General Conditions

As a condition of selection, the CAS requires that all rights, title, and interest, including copyright and patent, in and to the report be owned by the CAS. The selected researcher/research team must sign a formal research agreement that assigns all such rights to the CAS. In any publication of the report, the researcher(s) will receive appropriate credit with regard to authorship.

The CAS may publish the report in its entirety, or any sections thereof, in any format and medium as it finds fit, including but not limited to CAS publications, and electronic versions such as on its website or physical storage media.

The CAS may choose to seek public exposure or media attention for the research. By submitting a proposal, you agree to cooperate with the CAS in publicizing or promoting the research and responding to media requests.

The researcher(s) should make every effort to be available to present the report at CAS meetings or seminars (up to one in person in the U.S., two in the region covered by the research, and two virtual).

Any accompanying code examples will be shared on the CAS GitHub site (https://github.com/casact). All material on GitHub is released under the Mozilla Public License, version 2.0 (https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/MPL/2.0/).

Contact Information

Interested researchers should submit their proposals and any questions to:

Joyce Warner
Chief Business Officer
Casualty Actuarial Society
jwarner@casact.org