Want to Make Yourself a Better Climate Change Risk Manager? Here’s One Way

The Climate School’s curriculum was developed in collaboration with a range of experts to help professionals understand and confront the impact of climate change on the practice of risk management.
By: | February 14, 2023
Topics: Climate Change | Crisis Management | Critical Risks | Insurance Industry

Recently, the World Economic Forum (WEF) released its Global Risks Report 2023, which indicated that climate and environmental risks are a key focus of global risk perceptions for the next decade. In a global survey conducted by the WEF, those surveyed said that climate change is impacting them to such a degree that a one-third of the respondents fear that natural disasters, due to climate change, may force them from their homes.

The AXA Future Risks Report 2022 also indicated that climate change is becoming the number one concern around the world.

Risk managers across the globe who recognize the potential risk climate change poses to people, property and businesses now have an educational resource to help them navigate this growing issue.

The Climate School is the e-learning arm of sustainable insurance and consulting company AXA Climate.

Recently, Paris-based AXA Climate released a course that aims to help risk managers understand the key concepts of climate disclosure and navigate these complex issues. The AXA Climate team strives to help companies reduce their negative impact on the planet by switching from “extractive companies to regenerative companies.”

AXA Climate provides over 40 hours of digital training content to major companies, as well as consulting services to the agri-food, industrial, financial and public sectors. AXA Climate’s goal is to advise companies how to adapt to climate change and biodiversity loss in a regenerative way.

The Climate School began in parametric insurance using data to predict future risks.

“We know that long spells of floods, drought, wildfires, hurricanes and extreme weather events across the globe will become more and more intense in the future,” said Antoine Poincaré, vice president of the Climate School. “Companies are also obliged by new legislation and increasingly sensitive and unstable supply chains to accelerate the change to the way they produce, sell, invest, deliver and so on.”

The goal of the course is to help risk management leaders understand the issues and challenges of the now very pressing consequences of climate change (both physical and business model transition risks) without getting overwhelmed by the scale of the problem.

In this context, Poincaré explained, the role of risk manager is more essential than ever.

According to the AXA Future Risks Report 2022, for example, climate risk was at the top of the concerns of this class of insurance professionals in all regions of the world for the first time.

The latest digital training course to be added to the Climate School’s curriculum is specifically designed to help risk managers understand the climate crisis and how it will affect their jobs and the industry in the future. As risk managers indicate a growing interest in climate risk, the course is intended to answer key questions risk managers may have, including:

  • How can we best prepare our company for climate risks?
  • What good practices should we adopt?
  • Where do we start, and how do we find our way among the new guidelines?

The “Managing Climate Risks for Risk Management Leaders” class within the Climate School covers a variety of practical strategies and best practices.

“Overall, we aim to provide risk management leaders with the knowledge, tools and resources they need to effectively manage the risks posed by a quick adaptation and help their organizations transition to a more sustainable future,” Poincaré said.

Some of the key elements that the course focuses on include building awareness; practical strategies and best practices for identifying and assessing climate-related risks; making use of IPCC climate change scenarios so as to develop a climate risk adaptation strategy; and integrating climate risks into business operations.

It also details what needs to be put in place to comply with new EU regulations such as the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures and the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive.

A Collaborative Effort

The syllabus for the “Managing Climate Risks for Risk Management Leaders” program was developed by AXA Climate consulting experts in partnership with Arengi, a leading risk management specialist consultancy. Based in Paris, Arengi works with its customers’ risk management teams to optimize their risk profiles.

“Its specialists provided invaluable expertise and guidance in the development of the course content,” Poincaré said.

The course content was further developed by a team of experts from a number of partners, including Worldline, Eramet, Vathis Consulting and FORVIA. As Poincaré explained, experts from these third parties drew on their field experience and assessed research to create a comprehensive and practical training program.

“This collaboration ensured that the course covers the latest knowledge and most current best practices in the field of risk management, and from the broadest set of perspectives,” Poincaré said.

“In collaboration with Airmic (Association for Insurance & Risk), we have also launched the Climate Risk Management School, which aims to help PARIMA (Pan-Asia Risk and Insurance Management Association) members understand the risks and opportunities associated with ‘green risk’ and help their organizations mount strategic responses to a worsening global natural disaster landscape.”

This recent collaboration is the result of an Airmic survey that indicated its members have not prioritized climate risk and that “risk professionals are more concerned with managing severe short-term risks, such as flooding and tropical cyclones, than the long-term impact of climate change.”

Getting Involved

The goal of the Climate School’s e-learning guidance is to help risk managers play an essential role in this transformation by developing good practices and identifying opportunities to mitigate and reduce the impact of growing climate risks on their brands’ business models and organizations.

Interested in registering for the course? You can click here to create an account. After creating an account, you can access the platform and the Act-Risk Management course by clicking on “I work in risk management.” &

Based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Maura Keller is a writer, editor and published book author with more than 20 years of experience. She has written about business, design, marketing, health care, and a wealth of other topics for dozens of regional and national publications. She can be reached at [email protected].