Seeking a sustainable economic basis for insurance
Free and open to all.
We are all familiar with insurance products. Insurance is a form of risk-sharing that dates back centuries. In the modern world, it is a major business with sizeable advertising budgets and it generates substantial profits for its owners. Though some insurance service providers offer grants to fulfil ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) and other requirements, the model is principally one of profit-generation.
An alternative model, challenging the dominant market paradigm, is founded on funding nature recovery through surplus revenues beyond operational costs. Funding would be reallocated locally to insured properties to fund nature recovery schemes that have been proposed by nature-focused partners (mainly, but not exclusively, NGOs). Proposals for nature recovery schemes are assessed for optimal beneficial impacts using the Ramsar-adopted RAWES (Rapid Assessment of Wetland Ecosystem Services) framework.
This change of paradigm could generate substantial funds for nature recovery, given the many millions of properties across Britain for which payment of insurance premiums is a routine requirement. Insure4nature, spinning out from Defra-funded research, is founded on a novel model of redirecting surplus revenue from insurance premiums into nature-positive work, challenging the established profit-centred insurance service model.
This webinar will present a case study on Insure4nature, exploring an alternative economic approach to funding nature recovery schemes in the UK. This case study will detail the need for new funding models that support nature restoration and the implementation of practical nature-based solutions by Insure4nature. The webinar will include two presentations exploring the redirection of funds into nature restoration and the evaluation of recovery schemes through a scientifically evaluated improvement framework, finishing with a Q&A.
Our speakers
Dr Mark Everard, Associate Professor of Ecosystem Services at UWE and Visiting Professor at Bournemouth University, has worked on ecosystem services and the concepts leading up to the formulation of that term since the late 1970s. His background is in aquatic sciences but this has morphed into the wider systemic implications of the societal benefits of nature, and the vulnerability of nature to society, in a range of roles in science, policy, practical implementation, and broadcasting in the UK, Europe, Africa, East Asia, Australia and the US.
As a systems scientist, Mark supports the concept of nature-based solutions, though is concerned that many applications lack a systemic framing. Mark is the co-originator of the RAWES (Rapid Assessment of Wetland Ecosystem Services) approach, developed for, and adopted internationally as a standard method by, the Ramsar Convention and its signatories, and has supported its global implementation, not just for wetlands but for multiple other habitat types and cross-societal applications. Mark recently co-authored a report titled Sustainable Economy in the West of England? that explores the key climate change and biodiversity challenges in the West of England with economic strategy recommendations to address them.
Nigel Greenwood is the co-founder of Insure4nature, an insurance model that works with the Environment Agency, Defra, and Projects for Nature to fund nature restoration projects across the UK. Nigel is also the founder and owner of So Sussex, which has created various outdoor activity projects such as the Elderflower Fields family festival and the Spithurst Hub workspace to encourage engagement and appreciation of the local nature space in Sussex. Nigel's work is built on promoting sustainable economics that have nature restoration and natural world protection at the centre. To further support these ambitions, Nigel is a board member of the Living Coast UNESCO Biosphere and Sussex LVEP, both advocating for space where people can connect with nature and live well together whilst protecting and promoting the natural world.
Banner image © Maciej Olszewski via adobe stock
