[Event Recap] Webinar: Leveraging Space Technology for Climate Risk Finance

The webinar for Leveraging Space Technology for Climate Risk Finance took place on June 24, 2021. The webinar focused on raising awareness on the use of Earth Observation (EO) data to quantify, manage, and disclose climate-related risks in emerging markets and developing economies (EMDE) and highlighted the financial exposure of governments, banks, and investors to climate risks. The webinar also discussed emerging needs in assessing climate physical risks from EMDE and presented new space technologies and the latest innovations through practical use cases. Jean Pesme (Global Director, Finance, Competitiveness & Innovation [FCI], World Bank Group [WBG]) and Susanne Mecklenburg (Head of the European Space Agency (ESA) Climate Office) presented the opening remarks. The virtual session had over 224 participants from 43 countries and included donors, client representatives, international organizations, private sector companies, non-governmental organizations, and academia. 

The ignite presentations:

• Marie-Kristina Thomson (Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry Society/Willis Re) shared a presentation on hazard modeling
• Georgiana Esquivias (ImageCat) shared a presentation on mapping financial exposure
• Arjen Vrielink (Satelligence) shared a presentation on investments and footprint/emissions monitoring
• Hannah McNally (Airbus Defence & Space) shared a presentation on satellite services & insurance. 

The ignite presentations were followed by two-panel discussions moderated by Antoine Bavandi (Senior Risk Finance Specialist, Crisis and Disaster Risk Finance [CDRF], WBG). The first-panel discussion focused on emerging needs and priorities in EMDE and the panel included Unnikrishnan Nair (Head of Climate Change, Commonwealth Secretariat, Economic, Youth & Sustainable Development Directorate), Martijn Regelink (Senior Financial Sector Specialist, Financial Stability, WBG), and David Carlin (TCFD Program Lead. United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative.

The second-panel discussion convened on existing climate risk mapping and modeling tools and how to leverage new space technologies. The panel for the second discussion included Fabio Natalucci (Deputy Director, IMF, and Co-chair of NGFS workstream on Bridging the Data Gaps, Nicola Ranger (Deputy Director, UK Centre for Greening Finance and Investment at Oxford Sustainable Finance Programme), and Matthew Foote (Senior Director of Science & Analytics, WTW/Coalition for Climate Resilient Investment).

Benjamin Koetz (ESA, Head of Sustainable Initiatives Office) and Olivier Mahul (Practice Manager, CDRF, WBG) delivered the closing remarks. The webinar was facilitated by Kaavya Krishna (Senior Financial Sector Specialist, CDRF, WBG), featuring live poll questions to understand the participants better and interact with the audience. The webinar concluded with a Q&A session.

More Resources: 

• Presentation slides
• Event recording
• Ignite presentations
  
  • Marie-Kristina Thomson: Earth Observation for Pricing and Innovative Climate Risk Financing (click here)
  • Georgiana Esquivias Ramirez: Mapping Financial Exposure (click here)
  • Hannah McNally: Satellite Services and Insurance & Finance (click here)
• Financial Resilience Around the World Video Blog: Developing Disaster Risk Finance in Morocco: Leveraging Private Markets for Sovereign Risk Transfer