Climate Risk Finance and Insurance for MSMEs

When climate disasters strike, MSMEs in Fiji, long regarded as the backbone of employment, local supply chains and economic development, are often the most exposed but the least protected and the slowest to recover. The vulnerability is exacerbated by the lack of ex-ante and ex-post financial protection tools, such as parametric insurance, to provide quick liquidity that aids recovery. This panel brings together government, a UN agency, a multilateral development bank, a commercial insurer and the business community to share how Fiji designed and launched parametric climate risk insurance for small enterprises. Speakers will explore what it took to get a live product to market, mobilize private sector support for development outcomes, and what it will take to scale across the Pacific.