“Risk management tools that can help businesses quantify the impact of climate change are high in demand” 

Zurich Insurance Group has appointed Belinda Bates as senior risk consultant Climate Change in Commercial Insurance. It is a newly-created role within Zurich’s Climate Change Resilience Services department. Before joining Zurich, Bates was a consultant in financial risk management at EY. 

James Shea, CEO Commercial Insurance, said: “Risk management tools that can help businesses quantify the impact of climate change are high in demand, as climate change-related risks have increased in frequency and severity.”

”Businesses recognise the need for a comprehensive resilience approach that considers the changing environments in which they operate, and which helps them prepare for potential future challenges.”

In her new role in the Risk Engineering team, Bates will be working with Amar Rahman, Global Natural Hazards practice leader, as well as the underwriting teams.

Through the Climate Change Resilience Services, Zurich’s risk engineers provide businesses with advice, tools and insights to identify, assess, mitigate and adapt to current and future climate change risks.

This involves identifying high-risk locations under climate change scenarios and site-level assessment of natural hazard protection mechanisms, developing loss estimates, and proposing physical and organisational risk mitigation strategies.