Professor recognized for work on climate change and insurance

Dan Anderson, a University of Wisconsin–Madison business professor, has won a $10,000 stipend for his paper on risk management as it relates to global warming and climate change.

The stipend was awarded by the Geneva Association, of Switzerland, and the International Insurance Society, Inc., of New York – two of the world’s leading international insurance organizations.

Anderson’s paper, "Sustainability Risk Management as a Critical Component of Enterprise Risk Management: Global Warming-Climate Change Risks," focuses on one of the most important and discussed sustainability risk issues today.

Global warming has become a paramount concern for the insurance industry. Although many corporations have exposure to global warming and climate change risks, the insurance industry is particularly vulnerable.

Many companies are faced with insured property damages resulting from higher intensity storms and hurricanes, which are associated with global warming.

The insurance industry also is exposed to higher potential liability in terms of investment, life and health risks from global warming. Anderson’s paper shows how mitigation strategies can reduce these risks, and more importantly, how the incorporation of sustainability risk management strategies can produce substantial business opportunities.

Anderson is one of three winners of the collaborative insurance research program who will present their research during the International Insurance Society’s seminar in Berlin, Germany, this July.

Now in its third year, the insurance research program award was designed by the Geneva Association and the International Insurance Society to foster high quality practical research on current issues.

Anderson is the Leslie P. Schultz Professor of Risk Management and Insurance at the UW–Madison School of Business. Much of his research focuses on sustainability risk management issues. His recent book, "Corporate Survival: The Critical Importance of Sustainability Risk Management," examines rising sustainability risks.