Investment & Trade
Investing in resilience – the economic and humanitarian case
Keynote video presentation given at Asia Climate Forum 28 March 2019
Plenary session chaired by Dr. Makoto Suwa, Senior Disaster Risk Management Specialist, GFDRR, World Bank.
Michael Szönyi
Flood Resilience Program Lead – Zurich Insurance Company
Mr. Szönyi is member of executive staff in the Group’s
Sustainability function with Zurich Insurance Company. He
leads Zurich’s award winning Flood Resilience Program, a multi-sector alliance
with academia, humanitarian organizations and the private sector, aiming to
enhance community flood resilience. The program, originally started in 2012,
was recently extended to run in a second phase from 2018-2023.
He is also responsible for advising the company and all alliance partners
on risk insights and risk mitigation strategies as part of the program. Mr.
Szönyi previously led the Global Technical Center for Natural Hazards in
Risk Engineering. He has 12 years of insurance industry experience, all with
Zurich. He has significant expertise in property and natural hazards related
risk assessments for commercial customers. He was nominated “Young Risk
Management Achiever of the Year” in 2011 and has Masters Degrees in
Natural Hazards Management and in Geophysics, both from ETH Zurich.
Mr. Szönyi is member of executive staff in the Group’s Sustainability function with Zurich Insurance Company. He leads Zurich’s award winning Flood Resilience Program, a multi-sector alliance with academia, humanitarian organizations and the private sector, aiming to enhance community flood resilience. The program, originally started in 2012, was recently extended to run in a second phase from 2018-2023. He is also responsible for advising the company and all alliance partners on risk insights and risk mitigation strategies as part of the program. Mr. Szönyi previously led the Global Technical Center for Natural Hazards in Risk Engineering. He has 12 years of insurance industry experience, all with Zurich. He has significant expertise in property and natural hazards related risk assessments for commercial customers. He was nominated “Young Risk Management Achiever of the Year” in 2011 and has Masters Degrees in Natural Hazards Management and in Geophysics, both from ETH Zurich.
