New Book: ‘Managing Extreme Climate Change Risks through Insurance’

Botzen, Wouter J.W. (2013). Managing Extreme Climate Change Risks through Insurance. Cambridge University Press.

Description: In recent years, the damage caused by natural disasters has increased worldwide; this trend will only continue with the impact of climate change. Despite this, the role for the most common mechanism for managing risk – insurance – has received little attention. This book considers the contribution that insurance arrangements can make to society’s management of the risks of natural hazards in a changing climate. It also looks at the potential impacts of climate change on the insurance sector, and insurers’ responses to climate change. The author combines theory with evidence from the rich experiences of the Netherlands together with examples from around the world. He recognises the role of the individual in preparing for disasters, as well as the difficulties individuals have in understanding and dealing with infrequent risks. Written in plain language, this book will appeal to researchers and policy-makers alike.

For more information click here.

New Article: ‘The Greening of Insurance’

Mills, E. (2012). The Greening of insurance. Science, 338 (6113): 1424-1425

Summary: Every sector of the economy telegraphs climate risks to its insurers. In turn, climate change stands as a stress test for insurance, the world’s largest industry, with U.S. $4.6 trillion in revenues, 7% of the global economy (1–6). Insurers publicly voiced concern about human-induced climate change four decades ago (1). I describe industry trends, activities, and promising avenues for future effort, from a synthesis of industry progress in managing climate change risk [see supplementary materials (SM)].

To download full text click here

New Article: ‘The Potential Role of Insurance Law in Addressing Climate Change-related Risks and Disasters in South Africa’

Abstract: Global warming and climate change are now creating new risks and also altering risks we face on a daily basis. The impacts of these are usually on the environment, earth, and atmosphere with devastating effects on movable, immovable, living and non-living things which are all subjects of insurance. It is against this background that this paper examines the potential role of insurance law in addressing these novel weather events-risks  and disasters. The paper argues that despite the fact that these risks are not expressly provided for or defined in the core laws regulating insurance law and business in South Africa, significant provisions are in the Long Term Insurance Law, general principles of insurance law and other related statutes to be the legal basis upon which these risks can be regulated and managed. The article offers insightful proposals for inclusions and reforms by engaging in comparative study.

Full Citation: Odeku, K.O. (2012). The Potential Role of Insurance Law in Addressing Climate Change-related Risks and Disasters in South Africa. Journal of Human Ecology: International, Interdisciplinary Journal of Man – Environment Relationship, 39 (2): 103-113 (Available for download with subscription at: http://www.krepublishers.com/02-Journals/JHE/JHE-39-0-000-12-Web/JHE-39-0-000-12-Contents/JHE-39-0-000-12-Contents.htm). 

New Article: ‘Preempting the next disaster: Catastrophe insurance and the financialization of disaster management’

Abstract: The 2007 launch of the Caribbean Catastrophic Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF) introduced a new mechanism of state security against the uncertainties of climate change. Proponents argue that increasing the ability of member-states to finance disaster recovery through catastrophe insurance mitigates the effects of increasingly frequent and intense hurricanes and thus contributes to climate change adaptation. In contrast, I offer a critical analysis of the CCRIF that draws out how it facilitates what I call the ‘financialization of disaster management’. The introduction of financial logics and techniques enables the state and capital to visualize a population’s self-organizing adaptive capacity as both a threat to state-based forms of order and a value that can be leveraged on capital markets as catastrophe risk. Leveraging enhances a state’s ability to repair its critical infrastructure and preemptively negate undesirable adaptations. The CCRIF blends risk pooling with parametric insurance techniques to turn the uncertainty surrounding a population’s immanent adaptability into catastrophe risks that can be leveraged to enhance state security and capital accumulation in an emergent environment.

Full Citation: Grove, K. (2012). Preempting the next disaster: Catastrophe insurance and the financialization of disaster management. Security Dialogue, 43 (2): 139-155 (Available with subscription at: http://sdi.sagepub.com/content/43/2.toc)

Table of Contents Alert: The Journal of Environment & Development 21 (2)

See below for some of the articles that was published in the latest Special Issue:  Policy Instruments for Sustainable Development at Rio +20 in The Journal of Environment & Development 21 (2)

The Promise and Problems of Pricing Carbon: Theory and Experience
Joseph E. Aldy and Robert N. Stavins
Abstract: Because of the global commons nature of climate change, international cooperation among nations will likely be necessary for meaningful action at the global level. At the same time, it will inevitably be up to the actions of sovereign nations to put in place policies that bring about meaningful reductions in the emissions of greenhouse gases. Due to the ubiquity and diversity of emissions of greenhouse gases in most economies, as well as the variation in abatement costs among individual sources, conventional environmental policy approaches, such as uniform technology and performance standards, are unlikely to be sufficient to the task. Therefore, attention has increasingly turned to market-based instruments in the form of carbon-pricing mechanisms. We examine the opportunities and challenges associated with the major options for carbon pricing—carbon taxes, cap-and-trade, emission reduction credits, clean energy standards, and fossil fuel subsidy reductions—and provide a review of the experiences, drawn primarily from developed countries, in implementing these instruments. Our summary of relevant theory and survey of experience from industrialized nations may be helpful to those who wish to examine the potential applicability of carbon pricing in the context of developing countries.

Environmental Policy and Political Realities: Fisheries Management and Job Creation in the Pacific Islands
Joshua Graff Zivin and Maria Damon
Abstract: Effective environmental policymaking requires an understanding of how environmental goals interact with other political goals. This article analyzes development strategies in the PICT’s, where policymakers aim to leverage tuna resources into sustainable economic development and job creation. The authors develop a model that analyzes costs and benefits of different development strategies, with a focus on job creation and local socioeconomic factors that drive optimal policy mixes across PICTs. The analysis demonstrates that investment in fisheries management can effectively encourage economic development and create employment opportunities, and compare this strategy to others such as selling access permits and investing in processing capacity. While many benefits of fisheries management are widely recognized, its ability to create high-quality employment opportunities is often overlooked. For many PICTs, this may represent the lowest cost strategy for jobs creation and, coupled with selling fishery access to foreign vessels, can form a strong basis for economic development plans.

The Role of Microinsurance as a Safety Net Against Environmental Risks in Bangladesh
Sonia Akter
Abstract: The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) identifies Bangladesh as one of the countries that will be hardest hit by the anticipated effects of climate change. The poorest people are the most vulnerable, as they do not have sufficient means to cope with environmental risks. In the absence of effective safety nets, poor people become trapped in chronic poverty due to the recurrent damage caused by natural disasters. Recently, there has been growing optimism among policy makers and practitioners about the role of microinsurance as a safety net against weather risks for the poorest and most vulnerable people of Bangladesh. This article sheds light on this issue by synthesizing the findings of half a decade of research on the prospects of weather microinsurance in Bangladesh. Three key conclusions are drawn from the synthesis. First, the market for a standard, stand-alone weather microinsurance in Bangladesh is characterized by low demand, poor governance, and lack of prospects for commercial viability. Second, although the index-based flood insurance model has theoretical appeal (i.e., no moral hazard or adverse selection and low transaction cost), high economic cost might be associated with its highly complex practical implementation. Finally, the current (un)regulatory arrangement of microinsurance supply in Bangladesh, which does not guarantee accountability and protect clients’ rights, is likely to increase rather than decrease poor people’s vulnerability. The study makes two key recommendations: (1) exploring options for nontraditional insurance models (e.g., group-based and ex-post premium-based models), and (2) considering regulatory reforms to ensure good governance and to foster market efficiency through low-cost delivery and product innovation.

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Table of Contents Alert: The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance: Issues and Practice 37 (2)

See below for some of the articles that is published in the latest edition of The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance: Issues and Practice Special Issue: CLIMATE RISK AND INSURANCE

Explaining the Failure to Insure Catastrophic Risks

Carolyn Kousky and Roger Cooke

Abstract: It has often been observed that homeowners fail to purchase disaster insurance. Explanations have ranged from behavioural biases to information search costs. We show that the decision to forego disaster insurance may be quite rational. Solvency-constrained insurers are required to have access to enough capital to cover a particular percentile of their aggregate loss distribution. When insuring risks with loss distributions characterised by fat tails, micro-correlations or tail dependence, insurers need to charge a price that is many times the expected loss in order to meet their solvency constraint. Homeowners, facing a budget constraint and a constraint that their utility with insurance exceeds that without it, may find the required loadings too high to make insurance purchase an optimal decision.

Disasters and Decentralisation

Jason Scott Johnston

Abstract: Climate change may potentially increase the magnitude of losses from natural hazards, but the United States experience shows that the primary reason for escalating losses is policy failure. It is well known that centralised, taxpayer-funded ex post disaster relief has actually encouraged development in risky jurisdictions and also weakened incentives for ex ante precautions in such jurisdictions (moral or “charity” hazard). Less well known and analysed is the role played by centralised ex ante development subsidies—often masquerading as protective investment—in distorting incentives. This paper develops a simple three jurisdiction model in which homogeneous jurisdictions decide by majority vote in a centralised legislature on the centralised (federal) share of ex post loss and centralised spending an ex ante development in a Beneficiary jurisdiction, taking into account how these decisions about centralised spending impact local Beneficiary jurisdiction incentives for precautions against ex post loss. The model shows that the marginal cost of ex ante federal development spending may be greater for a Beneficiary jurisdiction than for a Contractor jurisdiction. This somewhat technical result has an observable implication: evidence that a small fraction of ex post loss in a Beneficiary jurisdiction is centrally compensated (shared across jurisdictions) is evidence that ex ante development subsidies there may be truly precautionary on net; conversely, evidence that a Beneficiary jurisdiction has a large share of its ex post hazard loss compensated by centralised disaster relief suggests that the ex ante development subsidies received by that jurisdiction did more to encourage new development and increase the amount at risk than they did to protect existing development. The model is extended to consider how ex post loss sharing impacts the demand for federally subsidised disaster insurance and other related issues.

A Comparative Study of Public—Private Catastrophe Insurance Systems: Lessons from Current Practices

Youbaraj Paudel

Abstract: Natural disasters risk is increasing in several regions around the world as a result of socio-economic development and climate change. This indicates the importance of establishing affordable and sustainable natural disaster risk management and compensation arrangements. Given the complexity of insuring extreme risks, insurers and governments often cooperate in catastrophe insurance systems. This paper presents a comparative study of the main components and a broad range of indicators of fully private and fully public, as well as public-private (PP) insurance systems, for extreme events, in ten countries. This analysis results in the following nine main recommendations for policymakers who aim to establish new, or improve existing, insurance arrangements for natural disasters: (1) mandatory participation requirements are advisable to achieve a high market penetration rate; (2) adequate monitoring and enforcement mechanisms need to be put in place to ensure compliance with these requirements; (3) the government needs to take responsibility for part of the (extreme) damage in order to keep an insurance system financially viable and affordable; (4) private insurance companies should participate in a PP insurance scheme by selling and administering policies and by covering medium-sized losses; (5) the integration in systems of risk transferring mechanisms is advisable; (6) it is advisable that governments stimulate the building-up of insurers’ reserves by providing tax exemptions; (7) risk mitigation policies should be carefully integrated in a natural disaster insurance system; (8) a detailed assessment and mapping of risk provides the basis for an effective mitigation policy; (9) insurance should provide financial incentives for policyholders to take risk mitigation measures.

New Report: ‘Extreme Events and Insurance: 2011 Annus Horribilis’

Summary: 2011 has been the most expensive year in recorded history both for the national economies and the insurance sector, with an estimated direct economic cost of US$380bn and original insured losses of approximately US$105bn.

It also showed an increasing severity arising from natural catastrophes, with a series of extreme events including the 11 March Japanese earthquake, the Australian and Thai floods, the New Zealand earthquakes, and the U,S, tornadoes.

These extreme events entail huge consequence in terms of human and economic losses but they also have important repercussions for the insurance industry.

This report presents the insurance’s role in managing extreme events and the mechanisms that make these insurable, both by the public and private sectors. In this context, it provides a detailed picture of the main extreme events that occurred in 2011 and analyse their impact on local insurance markets and well as the lessons learnt to efficiently manage these risks.

To download report click here

Table of Contents Alert: Business & Society 51 (1)

Special Issue: Climate Change: Challenging Business, Transforming Politics

Climate Change: Challenging Business, Transforming Politics

Chukwumerije Okereke, Bettina Wittneben, and Frances Bowen

Abstract: Climate change challenges contemporary management practices and ways of organizing. While aspects of this challenge have been long recognized, many pertinent dimensions are less effectively articulated. Based on contemporary literature and insights from articles submitted to this special issue, the guest editors of this special issue highlight some of the challenges posed by climate change to government and business, and indicate the range of options and approaches being adopted to address these challenges.

Corporate Perceptions of Climate Science: The Role of Corporate Environmental Scientists

Sandra Rothenberg and David L. Levy

Abstract: Although there has been some growing recognition of the role of private actors in international environmental regimes, little attention has been paid to the role of the private sector at the science–policy interface. Because the automobile industry plays a crucial role in mitigation of greenhouse gases, successful policy requires not just the assent but the active cooperation of this sector. Such cooperation, however, requires some institutional acceptance that climate change is indeed a significant risk. In this article, the authors look at the early stages of the automobile industry’s engagement with the discourse on climate change. The authors focus, in particular, on the role of corporate scientists in two U.S. automobile companies in translating this discourse. Acting as boundary spanners and institutional entrepreneurs, these individuals influenced both corporate perceptions of and responses to climate change science.

Much Ado About Nothing? How Banks Respond to Climate Change

Bettina Furrer, Jens Hamprecht, and Volker H. Hoffmann

Abstract: The effect of the financial sector on climate change remains largely underestimated. Banks can steer investments of their customers in low-emission technologies and adjust the conditions of loans that they provide to greenhouse gas intensive sectors. However, the authors’ research shows that few banks take such substantive action when they implement their climate strategy. The authors analyze 114 listed banks around the world and find evidence for deflective decoupling. This evidence means that banks that implement a climate strategy often decouple it from their main value creating processes such as lending and investment. Those banks that engage in more substantive action still combine it with symbolic activities which may facilitate the strategic change process. This study contributes to the literature on organizations and the natural environment as the authors specify which kind of banks implement substantive climate strategies. This research holds important implications for policy makers and managers who aim to implement a climate strategy in organizations that create value through information and financial flows but not with a physical transfer of goods.

Surprise as a Catalyst for Including Climatic Change in the Strategic Environment

Nardia Haigh and Andrew Griffiths

Abstract: This article examines what prompted electricity supply organizations to include changing climatic conditions as key elements of the strategic environment. Utilizing themes emerging from inductive analysis, the authors explain how and why surprising climatic events drove the organizations to begin including climate trends in their strategy development and planning processes. Results indicate that organizations were surprised climate was becoming more unpredictable, was directly affecting their operations, and was challenging long-held assumptions about climatic patterns. Our findings suggest that adaptation to climate change occurs predominantly as a reaction to climatic surprise, rather than a preemptive response to increasing awareness, and perceived uncertainty and risks as suggested by previous studies. Results also show that organizations are beginning to conceptually link changes in local climatic conditions to the global issue of climate change; though such linkages are not necessarily important to the inclusion of climate in the strategic environment.

The ClimateWise Principles: Self-Regulating Climate Change Risks in the Insurance Sector

Jason Thistlethwaite

Abstract: In recent years, the private insurance sector has started to incorporate climate change issues into its standard business practices and even begun to lobby governments to regulate and reduce global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The establishment of the ClimateWise Principles (ClimateWise) in 2007 embodies this effort. ClimateWise is an example of what scholars studying corporate strategy identify as a self-regulatory institution. To date, however, academic scholarship has failed to explain the emergence and function of ClimateWise, a unique initiative designed to leverage the insurance industry’s technical and political authority in governing climate change risks. This article will make the case that ClimateWise emerged in response to strategic incentives to reduce exposure to climate change risks, but that the form of this unusual self-regulatory institution was driven by institutional conditions.

Influencing Climate Change Policy: The Effect of Shareholder Pressure and Firm Environmental Performance

Cynthia E. Clark and Elise Perrault Crawford

Abstract: Firms face a great deal of pressure to engage in the heightened debate about climate change policies and practices. Building on the corporate political strategy literature, the authors evaluate how firms choose to influence those policies when faced with pressure from shareholders and activists. The authors triangulate firms’ choice of corporate political activity (CPA) with their environmental performance to draw out whether performance affects the firm’s choice of engagement level in CPA. The authors find that firms in the S&P 500 use a form of constituency-building (CB) more often than a financial-incentive (FI) tactic and that environmental performance moderates this choice. To date, there is little research connecting corporate political activity and climate change policies and performance. This research is intended to contribute to this literature gap.

Addressing the Climate Change—Sustainable Development Nexus: The Role of Multistakeholder Partnerships

Jonatan Pinkse and Ans Kolk

Abstract: While calls are being made to deal with the linkages between climate change and sustainable development to arrive at an integrated policy, concrete steps in this direction have been very limited so far. One of the possible instruments through which both issues may be approached simultaneously is a multistakeholder partnership, a form of governance with the potential to address existing regulatory, participation, resource and learning gaps as it harnesses the strengths of private, public, and nonprofit partners. There is some insight into partnerships for climate change, but largely limited to developed countries, and those in developing countries most often do not involve companies. To help fill this gap, this article explores the role of multistakeholder partnerships in addressing climate change and sustainable development in developing-country settings. It elaborates on the governance function of partnerships, on actor involvement, the gaps addressed, as well as synergies and trade-offs in the climate change-sustainable development nexus and how partnerships may help address them. As the number of such partnerships is still limited, we discuss seven illustrative partnerships and draw conclusions as to further conceptualizations and implications for research and practice.

Full text with subscription available for download at: http://bas.sagepub.com/

Table of Contents Alert: The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance: Issues and Practice 37 (1)

Editorial 

Moving Insurance
Patrick Liedtke

Original Articles 

Who Responds to Tax Reforms? Evidence from the Life Insurance Market
Carolin Hecht and Katja Hanewald

Abstract: We exploit the natural experiment of the 2005 income tax reform in Germany to study the effects of tax incentives on consumer behaviour in life insurance markets. Our empirical analysis of sociodemographic, economic and psychological household characteristics elicited in the German SAVE study shows that two very different consumer groups buy (endowment) life insurance before and after the tax reform. We find that education plays a central role in reactions to the modified tax environment. Our stylised characterisation of “arbitrageur” and “straggler” buyers will assist both life insurance firms and regulatory authorities in designing effective policies.

Non-Risk Price Discrimination in Insurance: Market Outcomes and Public Policy
R Guy Thomas

Abstract: This paper considers price discrimination in insurance, defined as systematic price variations based on individual customer data but unrelated to those customers’ expected losses or other marginal costs (sometimes characterised as “price optimisation”). An analysis is given of one type of price discrimination, “inertia pricing”, where renewal prices are higher than prices for risk-equivalent new customers. The analysis suggests that the practice intensifies competition, leading to lower aggregate industry profits; customers in aggregate pay lower prices, but not all customers are better off; and the high level of switching between insurers is inefficient for society as a whole. Other forms of price discrimination may be more likely to increase aggregate industry profits. Some public policy issues relating to price discrimination in insurance are outlined, and possible policy responses by regulators are considered. It is suggested that competition will tend to lead to increased price discrimination over time, and that this may undermine public acceptance of traditional justifications for risk-related pricing.

Regulation and Reform of Rating Agencies in the European Union: An Insurance Industry Perspective
Anja Theis and Michael Wolgast

Abstract: This article investigates the current discussion on the regulatory framework for credit rating agencies (CRAs) from the perspective of the insurance industry, focusing on the European Union. It becomes apparent that the new European system of regulation and supervision of CRAs conforms well to general principles of economic theory and can be expected to resolve many issues of concern. In contrast, some of the additional policy options currently discussed in Europe could involve substantial costs and risks for market participants and the financial system without contributing further to the objectives of CRA reform.

Insurability in Microinsurance Markets: An Analysis of Problems and Potential Solutions
Christian Biener and Martin Eling

Abstract: This paper provides a comprehensive analysis of the insurability of risks in microinsurance markets. Our aim is to enhance the understanding of impediments to and facilitators of microinsurance from an economic perspective and outline potential solutions. The motivation for conducting this analysis arises from two important aspects. (1) Despite strong growth of microinsurance markets in recent years, more than 90 per cent of the poor population in developing countries have limited or no access to insurance. (2) Industry practitioners frequently highlight problems in the insurability of risks that hinder the development of microinsurance. We review 131 papers and find that the most severe problems stem from insufficient resources for risk evaluation, small size of insurance groups, information asymmetries and the size of the insurance premium. On the basis of the analysis, we discuss a number of potential solutions such as, for example, a cooperative microinsurance architecture.

Governance and Shareholder Response to Chief Risk Officer Appointments
Manu Gupta, Puneet Prakash and Nanda Rangan

Abstract: This study examines the recent, significant growth in the appointments of Chief Risk Officers (CROs), the role of a CRO, and whether such appointments benefit shareholders. We find that the market is more likely to react positively to a CRO appointment for a firm with weak corporate governance. In particular, the lower the proportion of outside directors the greater is the likelihood of a positive market reaction to CRO appointments, suggesting that CRO appointments are associated with better future governance by firms’ shareholders. Finally, firms with higher tax and product risk also experience increases in stock prices when they appoint CROs.

Globalisation and Convergence of International Life Insurance Markets
Chien-Chiang Lee and Chi-Hung Chang

Abstract: Using panel data of 39 countries over the period 1979–2007, this paper is the first to empirically examine the influence of the KOF index of globalisation (overall and its three main sub-indices) on the development and convergence of international life insurance markets by a panel cointegration technique. We find that globalisation has a significant impact on the development of international life insurance markets and on reducing the deviation between individual countries’ life insurance penetration and the world average. Economic and social dimensions exert a similar effect as well, and the effect of economic globalisation is higher, while the effect of political dimension is not significant. In addition, social globalisation plays a dominant role on the interactive influence of different dimensions of globalisation, implying that socio-cultural factors are a latent factor behind economic or political influence. Finally, most countries’ structural breaks coincide with the fast growth wave of international life insurance markets.

ITS Award-Winning Papers

Structure, Principles and Effectiveness of Insurance Regulation in the 21st Century: Insights from Canada
Mary Kelly, Anne Kleffner and Darrell Leadbetter

Abstract: The 2007–2009 financial crisis resulted in failures of many large financial institutions and among the G8 countries, only Canada did not have to provide financial support to distressed financial institutions. We first examine the existing Canadian regulatory architecture in relationship to underlying principles arising from the public theory of regulation. Elements of the Canadian regulatory framework that contributed to the success of the insurance industry in weathering the crisis include the presence of a federal regulator who monitors system-wide issues also ensures consistent solvency standards; investment guidelines that encourage prudent risk-taking; and a holistic approach to insurer monitoring. A comparison of the Canadian experience with that of other jurisdictions highlights the importance of a holistic risk management approach to firm viability, especially in light of the inherent risks arising from complex group structures. A lesson from the crisis is the need for effective ex ante and ex post cross-border and holistic supervision as most distressed institutions belonged to large complex groups operating in multiple regulatory jurisdictions.

Principles for Insurance Regulation: An Evaluation of Current Practices and Potential Reforms
Robert W Klein

Abstract: The recent financial crisis and its cascading effects on the global economy have drawn increased attention to the regulation of financial institutions including insurance companies. While many observers would argue that insurance companies were not significant contributors to the crisis, the role of insurance companies in the financial economy and their potential vulnerability to systemic risk have become matters of considerable interest to policy-makers and regulators. In this context, this paper examines the basic economic principles that should govern the regulation of insurance and employs these principles in assessing current regulatory practices and potential reforms. Specifically, it articulates the basic rationale for insurance regulation, which is the remediation of market failures where regulation can enhance social welfare. In insurance, the principal market failures that warrant regulatory intervention are severe asymmetric information problems and principal-agent conflicts that could lead some insurance companies to incur excessive financial risk and/or engage in abusive market practices that harm consumers. This provides an economic basis for the regulation of insurers’ financial condition and market conduct. At the same time, the regulatory measures that are employed to correct market failures should be efficient and effective. Judged against these principles, the systems for solvency and market conduct regulation in the United States warrant significant improvement. There appears to be little or no justification for regulating insurance rates in competitive markets and the states should move forward with full deregulation of insurance prices. The EU appears to be much farther ahead in terms of implementing best practices in the regulation of insurers’ financial condition under its Solvency II initiative. It is also much closer to the desirable goal of full price deregulation than the United States.

Available with subscription at: http://www.palgrave-journals.com

New Report – ‘Financing Green Growth in a Resource-constrained World’

This report highlights promising examples of successful collaborations already under way, such as India’s National Solar Mission; Kenya’s efforts to design an investment-grade renewable energy strategy; the South Africa Water Partners Network; and the Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania. These examples offer innovative financing mechanisms and new models for collaborative innovation and engagement of multistakeholder communities. Each partnership offers lessons that will help others to replicate, tailor and scale up similar approaches. In so doing, the world can begin to shape a new “bottom up” approach to green growth to address climate change and deliver sustainable jobs and economic growth.