The initiative is funded by Humanity Insured and supported through a public–private partnership with the World Food Programme, the Global Shield Financing Facility and Allianz.
The policy, triggered in June by satellite monitoring of rainfall and vegetation levels, covers key agricultural regions across Syria. The immediate payout is providing essential food assistance and critical supplies to communities facing acute shortages.
Allianz highlighted the urgent need for support, noting that a decade of civil war has devastated infrastructure and livelihoods, leaving more than three million people food insecure. The impact of climate change has compounded the crisis, with the past winter being the driest in seventy years and record summer heatwaves causing catastrophic agricultural losses, widespread crop failure and rapidly depleting water resources.
Gabrielle Durisch, Chief Sustainability Officer at Allianz Commercial and a trustee of Humanity Insured, said the payout demonstrates the importance of insurance as a tool for rapid humanitarian response. She explained that drought forces families into difficult choices such as selling livestock, skipping meals or withdrawing children from school, and emphasised that timely funding can prevent these measures.
Charlie Langdale, Chief Executive of Humanity Insured, described the payment as a turning point for climate risk management in conflict zones. He stated that it proves anticipatory finance can work even in the most fragile environments.
Mathieu Dubreuil, Lead Advisor for Climate and Disaster Risk Financing and Insurance at the World Food Programme, added that the initiative shows how disaster risk financing and insurance can deliver efficient, early responses to catastrophic events. He said this first payout offers proof that such instruments can protect vulnerable communities from being left behind when extreme climate events strike.
The successful activation of the policy underscores the potential of parametric insurance to provide fast, targeted aid where traditional relief mechanisms often face delays, offering a model for future responses to climate-related disasters in high-risk regions.
