Climate-Aware Life Insurance: Research Highlights from Edinburgh
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Hello dear readers,
I hope your first weeks of work have been kind to you! I’m thrilled to share a quick update on the IE Insurance and Tech Lab and a wonderful trip to Scotland.
This past week I flew to Edinburgh to attend CCI25 - Climate Change and Insurance 2025, a workshop hosted by the International Centre for Mathematical Sciences (ICMS) and organized in collaboration with researchers from Heriot-Watt University and beyond.
From left to right: me, Carmen Boado-Peñas (Heriot-Watt), Michael Fisher (VIG), David Gómez-Ullate (IE University)
The theme of the event, how climate change is reshaping life and health insurance, couldn’t be more aligned with our lab’s focus. I had the chance to present our ongoing research on climate-aware mortality modeling, and demo the dashboard tool we’re building to explore links between temperature extremes and mortality patterns.
The response was amazing. Several participants shared ideas, questions, and even dataset leads that might help us deepen our modeling approach. We also discussed how climate indices like the Actuarial Climate Index can be integrated into underwriting, pricing, and solvency strategies. The conference reinforced that our research agenda is not only timely, but also part of a growing community of thinkers who believe insurance must adapt. And fast.
Among the many highlights were keynote talks by Simon Lloyd on ageing and temperature-driven mortality, and Jean-François Bégin on forecasting heat and cold-related deaths using APC models and climate pathways. I left inspired, notebook full, and grateful for the chance to be part of this growing conversation.
Our collaboration with Vienna Insurance Group (VIG) continues to gain momentum, and I’m excited about what’s coming next. As always, I’ll keep you posted.
Huge thanks to Carmen Boado-Peñas for the invitation and her incredible work organizing the event. Everything ran like clockwork. And a special shoutout to Michael Fisher for his sharp industry insights during the roundtable session. It was a pleasure to share the stage (and the pints) with you both!
Warm regards from Madrid (and a tiny bit of Scotland still in my heart),
Daniel Precioso, PhD
