WTW revolutionizes property broking by including climate data analytics on property portfolios

ARLINGTON, 10, July 2023 – Changing the property renewals and property propositions to include climate data is essential to optimizing clients’ risk portfolios says WTW, a leading global advisory, broking, and solutions company (NASDAQ:WTW).

WTW has incorporated climate data into its broking property renewals to help clients understand their long-term risks relating to their property portfolio. The data enables the assessment of future exposures to climate change by evaluating a series of climate indicators which helps companies to optimize their risk management strategies.

Key indicators are identified which can contextualize climate change and compare an organisation’s climate metrics including how increased extreme weather may impact their portfolio by 2050. The key indicators which are reviewed for their impact on property assets include:

• Extreme Heat = An increase in the periods of abnormally hot weather. This indicator can be assessed by the number of days where the temperature is above 30 degrees.
• Rainfall = an increase in heavy rainfall can be assessed by the number of days with more than 20mm of rain.
• Fire weather risk = These are assessed using the Fire Weather Index (FWI), a meteorologically based index used worldwide to estimate fire danger. The higher the fire weather index, the greater likelihood that meteorological conditions could trigger a wildfire.

John Merkovsky, Head of Risk & Analytics, WTW, said “When analyzing the property portfolio of a client, it is essential to provide data on climate related issues which can impact on property assets. This enables Risk Managers to have an overview of both today and mid-century assessments of potential future risk across their risk portfolio. We are leading the way in the use of data and analytics to help organizations’ optimize their risk mitigation strategies by providing bespoke assessments of their property risk portfolio and the impact of climate change. This is just the beginning of the Climate Analytics and Risk Management capabilities we will be introducing as part of our evolving broking proposition.”

The new approach to evaluating property risk and renewals is being launched initially with large North America clients. This will be expanded and rolled out to further geographies and other organizations over the course of 2023.

About WTW

At WTW (NASDAQ: WTW), we provide data-driven, insight-led solutions in the areas of people, risk and capital. Leveraging the global view and local expertise of our colleagues serving 140 countries and markets, we help organizations sharpen their strategy, enhance organizational resilience, motivate their workforce and maximize performance.

Working shoulder to shoulder with our clients, we uncover opportunities for sustainable success—and provide perspective that moves you.