Swiss Re announced that the organization will now integrate Fathom's flood hazard and terrain data into its internal catastrophe model, which includes the creation of 50,000-year probabilistic flood event sets. Leveraging AI-empowered climate models, these datasets aim to capture more extreme outcomes and remove historical biases, according to the press release.
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New models will also embed Fathom's global terrain dataset, FathomDEM+, for improved elevation information that can be used for a variety of use cases including the planning of linear assets, mapping natural perils and creating artificial digital environments.
"Combining Fathom's flood hazard capabilities with Swiss Re's catastrophe modelling and underwriting expertise enables us to push flood risk modelling further," said Balz Grollimund, head of catastrophe perils at Swiss Re, in the press release.
Swiss Re acquired the provider of global flood risk intelligence in December 2023 and has since used Fathom's flood models within the Swiss Re Risk Data Solutions product suite. These flood catastrophe models include millions of potential flood events, enabling financial loss estimation for both aggregated portfolios and individual locations across assessments of residential, commercial or industrial assets.
According to McKinsey Global Institute's report, "Advancing adaptation: Mapping costs from cooling to coastal defenses," about four billion people, spanning across 40% of Earth's landmass, are at risk of experiencing severe weather events like extreme heat, wildfires, drought and flood. McKinsey's report reveals a resiliency gap in which only one billion people are protected from these extreme natural disasters through adaptation measures, leaving three billion unprotected. Gaps are wider in low-income areas.
"Swiss Re's use of our data within its internal catastrophe model development demonstrates how critical peer-reviewed science and validated flood data are to understanding risk at a global scale. We're proud to be working closely with Swiss Re to help communities and economies better prepare for and manage extreme flood events," said Stuart Whitfield, CEO of Fathom.
