Attitudes in Norwegian insurance companies towards sharing loss data – Public-private cooperation for improved climate adaptation

Abstract

Background and research questions Research has shown that loss data on asset level from insurance companies have high utility value for local municipalities. These data can foster better understanding of the risks linked to nature events and surface-water flooding, in turn facilitating well-informed choices on what areas to prioritize in implementing prevention measures. The Norwegian Directorate for Civil Protection (DSB) and Finance Norway, the organization for financial industry in Norway, co-operate in working to prevent undesirable nature events and in implementing preventive measures. DSB is developing a ‘knowledge bank’ that will compile and provide access to data on nature events and surface water flooding. The aim is to strengthen Norwegian municipalities and counties in their work on impact prevention and climate adaptation. Loss data from insurance companies are one type of data relevant for the planned knowledge bank. On this background, the research questions for the study reported here were: 1. What are the attitudes to sharing loss data in Norwegian insurance companies? 2. What does it take for insurance companies to be willing to share such data – with whom, on what level, and in what ways? 3. What technical solutions are required to enable sharing of loss data from insurance companies on a digital platform?