Tokio Marine Group has partnered with the Resilient Cities Network (R-Cities) to promote investments in urban resilience, aiming to help cities address risks and vulnerabilities.
The partnership establishes Tokio Marine Group as the first underwriting partner for the newly formed Resilience Finance Taskforce, which collaborates with cities and private-sector organisations to develop frameworks for funding urban resilience projects.
R-Cities – a network that connects over 100 cities across six continents – works with urban centres such as New York, London, Rio de Janeiro, and Cape Town to address pressing challenges like climate change and infrastructure resilience.
Through financial backing from Tokio Marine Kiln, the partnership seeks to create tools and strategies to scale resilience financing.
The collaboration was spotlighted during a U20 roundtable in Rio de Janeiro, where taskforce members discussed priorities for resilience finance and the private sector’s role in advancing resilient urban development.
Brad Irick, co-head of international business at Tokio Marine Holdings, emphasised the importance of insurance in reducing risk and supporting recovery.
“The global risk landscape is becoming more volatile. The world needs better solutions for risk management, mitigation, and recovery. Finance and insurance play a critical role in helping to rebuild people’s lives and businesses in the wake of devastating events,” he said.
He added that partnering with cities to provide support where it is most needed helps develop solutions designed to improve resilience.
“By partnering with cities to provide support where it's most needed, we can develop solutions designed to weave resilience into the fabric of society. Our commercial partnership with R-Cities will enable us to harness our 140+ years of expertise to find innovative solutions that help strengthen urban resilience,” Irick said.
The collaboration is intended to address a growing shortfall in resilience funding.
Tokio Marine noted data from 2018 to 2022 that showed the gap between total economic losses and insured losses exceeded $100 billion per year, reflecting a 20% increase over the prior decade. Cities often lack the resources to develop comprehensive resilience projects, relying instead on fragmented or incidental funding.
The Resilience Finance Taskforce seeks to change this by equipping cities with the tools needed to build and finance integrated project portfolios. These portfolios aim to attract investment for urban development that mitigates risks and prepares cities for future challenges.
Lauren Sorkin, executive director of R-Cities, noted the importance of empowering local governments to drive change.
“We need to put cities back in the driver’s seat, empowering them to attract investments that will allow their communities and businesses to thrive, resilient to whatever shocks and stresses may come,” she said.
