On September 13, the first online lunch talk on climate adaptation took place with financial institutions and government agencies. We discussed the practical aspects of the visual story 'Making the Netherlands more climate-proof: what role do financial institutions play?'

During the lunch discussion, Gijs Kloek (Achmea) and Timo Brinkman (Dutch Association of Insurers) discussed the insurability of climate risks. Some climate risks, such as storm damage, are increasing but are easily insurable. Other risks, such as land subsidence and flooding from the sea and major rivers, are virtually uninsurable for private individuals and SMEs. The Dutch Association of Insurers argued that knowledge of climate risks and opportunities for adaptation should be included in the continuing education of financial advisors, and that coverage of climate risks should be included as a standard category in insurance cards. The speakers also shared tools for prevention and awareness.

In the second part of the lunch talk, Jan-Willem Vogels (Rabobank) and Bernardo Korenberg (Bouwinvest) discussed the financing of climate adaptation. They indicated that making real estate more sustainable and greener pays off, because it leads to a better risk/return profile. Business parks in particular offer many opportunities for greening. To achieve the necessary acceleration, cooperation with governments and innovative joint financing are needed.

All speakers advocate cooperation; according to them, the first steps toward this are:

• Sharing knowledge and insights and co-creating, e.g.: what are the right adaptation measures, what are the costs of doing nothing, etc.
• This requires a single point of control to facilitate coordination between financial institutions and local authorities.
• A practical first step is to overlay maps from financial institutions (customers, real estate, etc.) and municipalities to see where priority areas for climate adaptation overlap.