The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) has selected CGI to develop a proof of concept for a sectoral information service (SIS) focused on the insurance sector.
Under the two-year contract, the company will develop the Wind Storm Information Service (WISC) proof of concept for the European Commission (EU) Copernicus programme, which will help the insurance sector better understand the level of risk.
The European Commission-funded Copernicus utilizes data gathered from satellite, land, sea and air to help industry and business sectors as well as policy-makers and scientists in understanding and mitigating climate threat, adapt to change and capitalise on business opportunities.
ECMWF Copernicus Climate Change Service head Jean-Noël Thépaut said: "A key objective of the Copernicus Climate Change Service is to combine observations of the climate system with the latest science to develop authoritative information about the past, current and future states of the climate and its impacts."
The WISC platform will use data from multiple historical windstorms that occurred even before 1900 to develop an advanced catastrophe modelling framework to provide forecasts of potential future losses from severe winds.
The proof of concept will enable to forecast impact of severe wind storms in the next 35 years.
Under the project, CGI will produce key indicators such as number of European winter windstorms per year, average maximum wind speed of winter windstorms and average storm severity.
CGI’s information service will help insurance sector to forecast total insurance losses per year due to windstorms and the total losses of transport infrastructure per year.
In addition, the service will also allow other sectors such as energy, transport, civil engineering and government to assess the impact of climate change.
Image: CGI to develop a Wind Storm Information Service proof of concept for EU Copernicus programme. Photo: courtesy of European Association of Remote Sensing Companies.