Suncorp’s team of climate scientists, analysts, actuaries and data scientists have developed a new risk platform that helps predict the likelihood of severe weather events. The award-winning work aims to help customers, customer support teams, government and emergency services better prepare for future weather risks.
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How do you predict the unpredictable? The climate is changing, and severe weather forecasting is complicated, but thanks to Suncorp’s talented people, and advanced technology and data, we are working to better understand potential risks.
Award-winning research into the risk landscape of extreme weather supports the insurance industry and the community
Mitigating against the impact of severe weather is a key focus for Suncorp, and it has a dedicated team of climate scientists, engineers, actuaries and data scientists working hard in assessing climate risks.
Suncorp’s multidisciplined team was formally recognised for developing a new modelling platform that can identify historical extreme weather trends and help forecast the likelihood of future severe weather events using data, advanced analytics and artificial intelligence.
Led by Scientific Specialist Dr Rhys Whitley, Executive Manager Natural Perils Pricing Lisa Ye, Natural Perils Senior Pricing Advisor Tatiana Potemina and Senior Climate Advisor Dr Nina Ridder, the Suncorp team was awarded the 2024 SAS Practice Prize for their innovative work, at the Melbourne Business Analytics Conference.
Not only does the modelling platform have the potential to set a new standard for the insurance industry in climate-informed risk management, Dr Whitley said it could help Suncorp’s disaster management team, and other support services, deploy resources sooner to communities more likely to be at risk.
“Our goal was to untangle regional risk and strategically monitor where risks are occurring throughout Australia and New Zealand for different natural hazards,” Dr Whitley explained.
Suncorp Scientific Specialist, Dr Rhys Whitley
This allows us to be more informed and targeted in preparing for disasters.
We are exploring how our work could affect how we respond to events, whether that be knowing which areas to target and lining up assessors to be available or potentially forewarning our customers.
What type of data inputs were required to create the modelling?
Executive Manager Natural Perils Pricing Lisa Ye said it was about understanding the past to better understand the future.
“We were working with large terabytes of climate data dating back to the 1940s,” Ms Ye said.
“There are a lot of metrics we could use, but what we really needed to do was tailor it to natural hazard events that caused damage from an insurance perspective.
“It’s not just about a storm – but asking: ‘Is it a damaging storm?’
Suncorp Executive Manager Natural Perils Pricing, Lisa Ye
Having a wide range of skills and expertise to utilise lends us the ability to deal with the data, deal with the science and meld it into something that is useful for the industry and the community.
Future potential benefits to the wider community and emergency services
The modelling platform will continue to be explored and refined as part of Suncorp’s disaster management strategy. It comes as Suncorp launched its state-of-the-art Disaster Management Centre in 2024, which arms Suncorp’s people with better insights and the ability to get to customers sooner, following extreme weather.
The award-winning modelling work is one of many initiatives Suncorp supports to better understand, prepare for and respond to changes in climate risk. Find out more about our four-point resilience plan.
