We are delighted to be able to issue the Natural Disaster Fund 2023 Impact Report, and to thereby share some highlights of the activities and impact of the NDF.

Download the report.

Managed by our Global Parametrics team, the Natural Disaster Fund (NDF) is a public-private partnership funded by UK and German governmental entities. The NDF shares risks with Hannover Re to foster climate and NatCat resilience for poor and vulnerable communities in low-and-middle-income countries.

Effective measurement and monitoring of impact are at the heart of what we do. The NDF remains focused on closing the protection gap through parametric risk transfer solutions, aiming to build the resilience of vulnerable communities against natural hazards and extreme weather events. 2023 was also a year of significant change. Global Parametrics, the provider of management services to the NDF since its launch in 2018, was transferred from public to private ownership through the sale of its share capital to CelsiusPro AG. The resulting merger in 2023 between the Global Parametrics and CelsiusPro teams, of their respective expertise and of their long track records in the successful delivery of parametric solutions, opens a very exciting and very positive new chapter for the NDF as it seeks to accelerate the scale and reach of its business.

The challenges in closing the protection gap and in building resilience for vulnerable communities remain huge. This was demonstrated again during the course of 2023 and 2024 by the impact of severe natural disasters such as the Al Haouz earthquake in Morocco and Hurricane Beryl which swept through the Caribbean.

It is only through partnerships with industry stakeholders such as capacity providers, brokers, governments, regional risk pools and others that we can hope to achieve the full potential of disaster risk insurance and, therefore, of the NDF.

Through ongoing dedication, team effort and the support of partners, the year has seen a significant increase in the deployment of risk capacity and in the number of poor and vulnerable beneficiaries reached through the NDF’s risk transfer activities.

• 41.6 million people total beneficiaries covered 

• 35.7 million people poor and vulnerable beneficiaries 

• 23 transactions at risk

• 71 countries covered

• +140% increase in capacity deployment

• 11 payouts

• USD 16.5 total payouts

• 12 technical assistance projects since 2021

• USD 2.5 million in grants since 2021

It is very pleasing to note that this upward growth trajectory for risk capacity deployment and impact has continued at pace beyond the scope of this report into 2024 and to date.

We remain so very grateful for the partnerships that the NDF has been blessed with to date and so very hopeful as to the potential of the new additional partnerships that are to come.