Illustrative: event footprints crossing a portfolio, losses rising and the exceedance-probability curve

Risk Academy, led by the Nexus Consortium · Course catalogue · Finance and Economics

Insurance and Actuarial Science

Disaster risk finance

Disaster risk finance, taught twice over: as the working methods of the field and as its frontier since 2024, with labs on the Academy's tools, open data and the Nexus Standards.

Core course Frontier course

The discipline

01Core course · L2 Intermediate

Disaster risk finance: foundations and practice

Disaster risk finance plans in advance how the costs of disasters will be met.

Level
L2 Intermediate
Study time
about 24 hours (planning estimate)
Status
In authoring
Prerequisites
An L1 course in the area, or an entry review

Why now

Aims to link sovereign demand for risk transfer with industry capacity while building domestic insurance markets. Global Shield against Climate Risks, Global Shield against Climate Risks Announces New Partnership with Insurance Development Forum to Strengthen Climate and Disaster Risk Insurance Markets, 24 June 2026

Learning outcomes

  1. Define risk layering and the other key terms of the discipline and use them correctly in a written case
  2. Explain risk layering and contingency funds and budgets with a worked example and its source
  3. Apply the discipline's method to a documented case and explain each result with its source
  4. Analyse a named case against contingent credit, stating evidence, date and limits

Modules

  1. Risk layering
    • Risk layering
    • Contingency funds and budgets
    • Contingent credit
  2. Parametric insurance and risk pools
    • Parametric insurance and risk pools
    • Catastrophe bonds
    • Pre-arranged finance for anticipatory action
  3. Sovereign contingent liabilities
    • Sovereign contingent liabilities
    • Post-disaster financing
  4. Lab: the discipline's method
    • A government faces frequent small disaster losses and rare large ones; each layer is cheapest to finance with a different instrument, and the retention level where reserves end and insurance begins sets the yearly cost of the whole strategy.
    • Work the method through a documented case and explain each result
    • Read the method's sources and stated values

Labs with Academy tools

Nexus Standards

Teaches

  • NRS-F7 Disaster risk finance and pre-arranged finance
  • NRS-F8 Parametric and index-based risk transfer
  • NRS-M6 Method fabric: Catastrophe risk
  • NRS-M9 Method fabric: Insurance and reinsurance

Relies on

  • NS-1 The UNI and the artefact catalogue
  • NS-16 UNI application profile (how articles, documents, code, data, APIs and interfaces carry the UNI)
  • NRS-C1 Risk vocabulary and ontology
  • NRS-C2 Risk assessment method
  • NRS-C3 Hazard, exposure, vulnerability and capacity data
  • NRS-C4 Risk data model, identifiers and exchange
  • NRS-C7 Early warning, triggers and anticipatory action
  • NRS-C8 Evidence, uncertainty and provenance

Assessment

  • 40%Lab recordWork the discipline's method through a documented case and explain each result with its source and date
  • 40%Case memoApply the discipline's methods to a named place or organisation, stating evidence and limits
  • 20%Key terms checkShort answers on the key terms, marked against the definitions

Delivery

  • Self-paced online, with the labs in the browser
  • Cohort study over six to eight weeks, with a weekly lab review
  • Co-delivered with a partner institution, inside its own courses

Partner on this course

  • Co-teach a module and bring a current case from your work
  • Host a cohort for your learners, with your own schedule and review
  • Contribute a lab: a dataset your institution publishes openly, or a model
  • Review the course content and its references before it opens
  • Translate the course and adapt its cases to your region

How institutions and experts take part

In the Academy LMS

Course on the learning platform
Intermediate, 4 topics
Cohort group
A community group for each cohort of learners
Achievement
Recorded on completion of the assessed work

Open now in this discipline

References

  1. Global Shield against Climate Risks, Global Shield against Climate Risks Announces New Partnership with Insurance Development Forum to Strengthen Climate and Disaster Risk Insurance Markets, 24 June 2026
  2. Ghesquiere and Mahul, Financial protection of the state against natural disasters: a primer, 2010
  3. Clarke and Dercon, Dull disasters? How planning ahead will make a difference, 2016
  4. Cummins, CAT bonds and other risk-linked securities: state of the market and recent developments, 2008
02Live map

Hazards now in India

Flood water, active fires, heavy rain and smoke, beside where people live, over India.

The interactive map needs JavaScript; the layer list and sources are below.

Layers 3

Hazards now

Latest available

NASA GIBS / EOSDIS · ASTER GDEM (METI, NASA) · Blue Marble (NASA) · © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) · Natural Earth

Loading the latest NASA imagery.

Drag to move. Ctrl or ⌘ and scroll, pinch or the buttons to zoom; hover for the values under the pointer; reset returns to the region.

Hazards now, framed on India.Satellite and model products as NASA publishes them, each with its own date. They are indicators, not assessments of any place.

Data: NASA GIBS · ASTER GDEM · Blue Marble · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Natural Earth · NASA EONET · U.S. Geological SurveySources and licences

  • We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • VIIRS near-real-time products (flood, land surface temperature, snow cover, corrected reflectance), NASA LANCE; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • NASA Fire Information for Resource Management System (FIRMS), VIIRS 375 m active fire product, NASA LANCE; vector tiles via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • GPM IMERG precipitation, NASA Precipitation Processing System; distributed by the NASA Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • MODIS and VIIRS atmosphere products, NASA LANCE and LAADS DAAC; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), Columbia University. 2018. Gridded Population of the World, Version 4 (GPWv4): Population Density, Revision 11. NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC). Licensed under CC BY 4.0. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). doi:10.7927/H49C6VHW. CC BY 4.0
  • ASTER GDEM is a product of METI and NASA (ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003, NASA LP DAAC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). Cite as: NASA/METI/AIST/Japan Spacesystems and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team (2019). ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003. doi:10.5067/ASTER/ASTGTM.003. NASA open data
  • Made with Natural Earth. Free vector and raster map data @ naturalearthdata.com. Public domain
  • © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), via NASA GIBS (coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). ODbL
  • Blue Marble, NASA Earth Observatory; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • Context on the globe and flat map: coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names from NASA GIBS reference layers (OpenStreetMap data, ODbL, © OpenStreetMap contributors); Blue Marble imagery as an optional base; 3D terrain and the elevation read-out from the ASTER GDEM elevation colour index (5 m to 200 m classes, exaggerated for legibility). Boundaries are drawn as published and imply no position on any territory.
  • Globe: MapLibre GL JS 6.9.1, BSD-3-Clause, © MapLibre contributors.
  • Live events: NASA Earth Observatory Natural Event Tracker (EONET); events are indicative and keep their original source links.
  • Live: NASA EONET Events are indicative, not authority warnings.
  • Live: U.S. Geological Survey Events are indicative, not authority warnings.
  • NASA GIBS: We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS).
  • River discharge forecast, 30 days with range (GloFAS via Open-Meteo): Contains modified Copernicus Emergency Management Service information 2026; not a flood warning.
  • Weather data by Open-Meteo.com (https://open-meteo.com/), licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
  • Optional layers (20 sources in the layer list: live, forecast, observed and context) print their provider credit on the map and here when switched on; forecasts are model output and derived indices are estimates.

Layers and dates

  • Flood water, 3-day composite: VIIRS Global Flood Product, NASA LANCE · 14 Oct 2026
  • Active fires and thermal anomalies: VIIRS NOAA-20 375 m (FIRMS), NASA LANCE FIRMS · 13 Oct 2026
  • Precipitation rate, daily mean: GPM IMERG, NASA GES DISC · 12 Oct 2026
  • Aerosol optical depth, daily: VIIRS NOAA-20 Deep Blue AOD, NASA LANCE · 13 Oct 2026
  • Population density, 2020: Population: CIESIN, Columbia University, Gridded Population of the World v4.11 (2018), NASA SEDAC, CC BY 4.0 · static

03How learning runs

How learning runs, as a process you can run

Select a scenario and press Play: course, pathway, practice, faculty, cells and record.

04What is changing

Frontier course · L3 advanced, programme courses and standards

Disaster risk finance: frontier methods

The methods, data, tools and studies that changed disaster risk finance between 2024 and 2026, taught by reproducing them on open data.

Level
L3 Advanced
Study time
about 28 hours (planning estimate)
Status
Planned
Prerequisites
Disaster risk finance: foundations and practice; Working knowledge of a scripting language (Python or R) for the labs

Why now

Catastrophe bond issuance reached record levels in 2024 and 2025, parametric covers spread through regional pools (CCRIF, ARC, PCRIC), and climate-resilient debt clauses that pause repayments after a disaster entered sovereign and development bank lending. CCRIF SPC, Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility, 2025

Learning outcomes

  1. Explain what changed in disaster risk finance since 2024 and cite the studies, data or rules behind each change
  2. Reproduce risk layering on open data and state the uncertainty of the result
  3. Evaluate a 2024 to 2026 study: its question, data, method, limits and what it changes for practice
  4. Design an analysis that combines a frontier method with the faculty's instruments, and justify each choice

Modules

  1. Risk layering
    • Reserves, contingent credit, insurance and cat bonds by return period
    • Basis risk in parametric design
    • Pricing with catastrophe model output
  2. Sovereign instruments
    • Regional risk pools
    • Catastrophe bonds issued through the World Bank
    • Climate-resilient debt clauses
  3. Pre-arranged action
    • Linking finance to triggers and plans
    • Payout speed and delivery
    • Evaluation of protection gaps
  4. Global Shield partners with the Insurance Development Forum
    • The Global Shield against Climate Risks and the Insurance Development Forum agreed to connect countries' requests for support with insurance and risk transfer expertise and to support local markets, analytics and supervision.
    • Global Shield against Climate Risks, 24 June 2026
  5. Jamaica's catastrophe bond pays out after Hurricane Melissa
    • A full US$150 million payout on Jamaica's 2024 World Bank catastrophe bond was confirmed nine days after Hurricane Melissa's October 2025 landfall; a new US$200 million bond covering four hurricane seasons followed in May 2026.
    • World Bank, 1 June 2026
  6. Reproduction lab
    • Extend the discipline's method with one frontier method and compare its results
    • State the uncertainty and the limits of the result
    • Peer review against a shared checklist
  7. Technology that helps and the risks it carries
    • AI models, tokenisation and regulatory technology.
    • Model risk, cyber accumulation, exposure to quantum attacks on cryptography, and concentration on third-party cloud providers.

Labs with Academy tools

Nexus Standards

Teaches

  • NRS-F7 Disaster risk finance and pre-arranged finance
  • NRS-F8 Parametric and index-based risk transfer
  • NRS-M6 Method fabric: Catastrophe risk
  • NRS-M9 Method fabric: Insurance and reinsurance

Relies on

  • NS-1 The UNI and the artefact catalogue
  • NS-16 UNI application profile (how articles, documents, code, data, APIs and interfaces carry the UNI)
  • NRS-C1 Risk vocabulary and ontology
  • NRS-C2 Risk assessment method
  • NRS-C3 Hazard, exposure, vulnerability and capacity data
  • NRS-C4 Risk data model, identifiers and exchange
  • NRS-C7 Early warning, triggers and anticipatory action
  • NRS-C8 Evidence, uncertainty and provenance

Assessment

  • 50%Method reproductionReproduce one frontier method on open data and state the uncertainty of the result
  • 30%Study reviewA critical review of a 2024 to 2026 study: question, data, method, limits, what it changes
  • 20%Peer reviewReview two other learners' reproductions against a shared checklist

Delivery

  • Self-paced online, with the labs in the browser
  • Cohort study over six to eight weeks, with a weekly lab review
  • Co-delivered with a partner institution, inside its own courses

Partner on this course

  • Co-teach a module and bring a current case from your work
  • Host a cohort for your learners, with your own schedule and review
  • Contribute a lab: a dataset your institution publishes openly, or a model
  • Review the course content and its references before it opens
  • Translate the course and adapt its cases to your region

How institutions and experts take part

In the Academy LMS

Course on the learning platform
Expert, 7 topics
Cohort group
A community group for each cohort of learners
Achievement
Recorded on completion of the assessed work

Open now in this discipline

References

  1. CCRIF SPC, Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility, 2025
  2. African Risk Capacity, ARC Group, 2025
  3. Insurance Development Forum, IDF publications, 2025
  4. Global Shield against Climate Risks, Global Shield against Climate Risks Announces New Partnership with Insurance Development Forum to Strengthen Climate and Disaster Risk Insurance Markets, 24 June 2026
  5. World Bank, Third Catastrophe Bond for Jamaica: Increased Cover following Hurricane Melissa, 1 June 2026
  6. Artemis, Catastrophe bond issuance breaks Q4 and full year records, market grows 24%: Report, 2 January 2026
  7. Global Shield against Climate Risks, Ghana receives first insurance payouts by the African Risk Capacity to help address impacts of recent droughts, 8 April 2025
  8. Ghesquiere and Mahul, Financial protection of the state against natural disasters: a primer, 2010
  9. Clarke and Dercon, Dull disasters? How planning ahead will make a difference, 2016
  10. Cummins, CAT bonds and other risk-linked securities: state of the market and recent developments, 2008
05Take part

Take part in the work

Start from who you are.

06Questions

Questions, answers and key terms

Is the course free?
Yes. Every course and learning material of Risk Academy, led by the Nexus Consortium, is free to study, self-paced or with a cohort. Ordinary participation has no fee; paid work, internships and fellowships are separate arrangements.
What does completing a course give me?
A completion record: the course, its version, the date and what was assessed, private by default and shared by you. It stacks into discipline, department and programme achievements. A record states what was studied and assessed and does not certify competence; it is not a licence, a professional title or an employment status.
Where do the data and the places come from?
Every faculty teaches on a twin of a real place built from open data; each layer carries its provider, licence and date, and every result on the Academy states its source. Maps and figures are indicators for teaching, never an assessment of a place.
How do I take part beyond the course?
Form a competence cell of three to seven people, study a shared pathway, take a supervised assignment in the National Working Groups, or bring a cohort from your institution. For organisations.

Key terms

Term

Risk layering

Matching financing instruments to events of different frequency and severity.

Term

Parametric trigger

A payout rule based on a measured hazard parameter rather than assessed loss.

Term

Basis risk

The mismatch between a parametric payout and the actual loss.

Term

Catastrophe bond

A security that transfers defined catastrophe risk to investors.

ReportsContribute

Contribute evidence from this page.

Reports is the Consortium's quarterly publication. What you know about this subject can become evidence, a case or a correction in the next edition, credited to you and published under CC BY 4.0 where it is your own work.

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