Atmospheric
and Environmental Research (AER),
a Verisk Analytics (Nasdaq:VRSK) company, announced today that its
scientists have begun a new emerging risk research program entitled Climate
Change: Tornado and Hail to quantify any shifts in the patterns of
hazard related to severe thunderstorms in North America. The initiative
is co-sponsored by a group of insurance industry and financial sector
companies.
AER’s meteorological, remote sensing, and actuarial scientists are
teaming with industry thought leaders to conduct an extensive historical
analysis of thunderstorm wind, hail, and tornadoes to determine whether
those perils are exhibiting a different frequency or severity than in
the past. The AER research team is also assessing whether there is
evidence of local influences on storm occurrence within different parts
of a city. The AER
Emerging Risk research study will focus primarily on tornadoes and
hailstorms, which are of high interest to commercial lines and personal
lines insurers in both the U.S. and Canada.
“Despite the considerable efforts and resources applied by the insurance
industry toward fundamental research into emerging risks, there has been
and will always be significant gaps between the scientific community and
the insurance industry,” said John Seo, PhD, co-founder and managing
principal, Fermat Capital Management. “AER has the technical expertise,
the industry knowledge and, just as important, the operating model to
close such gaps. Our particular motivation for participating in AER’s
Emerging Risk research program is to enable us to identify new risk
transfer opportunities and expand the insurance-linked securities market
beyond conventional risks in a responsible way.”
“Roof-related claims have been a focal point for personal lines insurers
during the past five years,” said Benjamin Rhodes, vice president of
Personal Lines Product Management at The Hanover Insurance Group. “The
new data resources that AER will be creating will improve our
understanding of how changes in weather patterns, population growth, and
construction characteristics can impact risk.”
“Hail risk is of critical concern to the Canadian insurance market,”
said Jean Roy, vice president of Rating and Classification at TD
Insurance. “AER’s plan for original research in Canada, inclusive of
cloud seeding influences, will inform how our insurance products need to
evolve in hail-exposed parts of the country.”
“Commercial and personal lines insurers and associated industries need
better quantification of the changing landscape of tornado, wind, and
hail risk,” said Julie Rochman, president and CEO of the Insurance Institute
for Business & Home Safety (IBHS). “IBHS’s mission is to conduct
objective, scientific research to promote effective actions that
strengthen businesses and homes against severe storms, and AER’s
research reinforces that objective by helping us understand the new
normal, why these numbers are shifting and where they are trending.”
“AER’s research into the question of whether a changing climate is
influencing severe thunderstorm risk is a welcome endeavor,” said
Jayanta Guin, PhD, senior vice president at catastrophe modeling firm
AIR Worldwide, a Verisk Analytics company. “I’m confident that the
program’s findings will inform future generations of our U.S. and Canada
severe thunderstorm models.”
“The supporters of the AER Emerging Risk research program share our
strong belief that objective scientific research, when put specifically
in the context of industry needs, can directly enhance business
strategies,” said Kyle Beatty, senior vice president at AER. “Our focus
on providing actionable data to our supporters on an ongoing basis,
built off the foundation of original, peer‐reviewed research, is what
makes this program uniquely valuable.”
“Through Verisk’s work with the North American insurance market, we have
observed weather claim activity from a unique position, which has
inspired us to dive into the related science at a rigorous level,” said
Mark V. Anquillare, executive vice president and chief financial officer
at Verisk Analytics. “The data and resulting insights gained from this
research will shape the way product managers and actuaries measure and
manage the risk from these hazards.”
The Climate
Change: Tornado and Hail research program is the second project in
the Emerging Risk research program managed by AER for the insurance
industry. AER’s scientists develop actionable data through original
research that is conducted in-house, leveraging its extensive data
warehouses and broad range of scientific experts. The first research
initiative, which was summarized in a report
published by Lloyd’s of London and co-authored by AER scientists,
assessed the risk of covered loss due to widespread, long-duration
power outages and resulted in a catalog of space weather blackout
scenarios for the United States.
About Atmospheric and Environmental Research
Atmospheric
and Environmental Research helps businesses and the government
anticipate and manage climate- and weather-related risks. Energy,
insurance, and manufacturing firms count on AER to help decrease their
weather-related losses and improve productivity by integrating
state-of-the-art climate science and weather information into their
planning and decision processes. Government agencies such as NOAA, NASA,
and the Departments of Defense and Energy rely on AER’s scientists to
help solve weather- and climate-related problems of vital national
importance in energy, environment, national security, and climate
change. Established in 1977 and headquartered in Lexington,
Massachusetts, AER is a Verisk Analytics (Nasdaq:VRSK) company. Please
visit www.aer.com.
Copyright Business Wire 2013