ICEYE Supports Insurance Industry and UNDP-led Initiative to Increase Flood Resilience in Ghana

ICEYE’s flood insights underpin innovative insurance solution to protect the most vulnerable from the effects of severe flooding.

Helsinki, FINLAND – July 14, 2022 – ICEYE, a world-leading provider of natural catastrophe data, announced today its participation in a risk transfer project with the Ghana Ministry of Finance, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the Insurance Development Forum (IDF).

With project leadership from two IDF members – Allianz and Swiss Re – in collaboration with UNDP, the project will enhance the capabilities of the government to respond to and better support those impacted by urban flooding. In addition, the project is expected to boost the country’s socioeconomic resilience by de-risking development investments in the Greater Accra Region.

At the scheme’s core is a parametric flood insurance solution. ICEYE will provide high-resolution hazard data in the event of a flood. Combining SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) imagery with data from other sources, ICEYE will verify both the extent and depth of floods. The comprehensive and accurate nature of the ICEYE solution reduces basis risk, ensuring that payouts are both timely and in line with expectations. Importantly, the flood data will also help inform response and recovery decisions throughout the region.

“At UNDP Ghana, we are committed to supporting integrated development solutions that build resilience across society to protect Ghana’s development progress,” said Angela Lusigi, UNDP Country Representative. “This project to develop an innovative insurance solution for managing flood risks and to provide rapid payouts as a safety net for poor and vulnerable urban communities is welcome. It will serve as a boost to government and private sector efforts to provide wider access to insurance and risk finance. By blending the financial-solution expertise developed by the government, with the long-term development and governance support offered by UNDP in partnership with the private sector, we will be able to advance Ghana’s ambitious development agenda.”

"This alternative risk transfer scheme will be the first of its kind in the region and shows the desire of all parties involved to innovate in order to break barriers, bring down basis risk, and improve disaster recovery outcomes. That includes the demand from the government to try something new, the innovation of all partners to construct this programme, and the power of ICEYE data to enable it,” says Lukas Sundermann, Senior Product Manager for Public Sector Solutions at Swiss Re, speaking on behalf of the IDF project team.

“We are extremely proud to be part of a project to help ensure the safety and financial security of those most exposed to floods in Ghana,” says Rafal Modrzewski, CEO and Co-founder of ICEYE. “By rapidly combining data from our satellite constellation with auxiliary information, we can inform decision making with an entirely new level of accuracy, consistency and resolution that has never been possible before. ICEYE’s data will be central to the success of this important project for the insurance sector and the global development community.”

Read more from the original press release announced at Insurance Development Forum.