✓ Reduce loss frequency and severity
✓ Strengthen long-term resilience
✓ Improve insurability of assets
✓ Turn climate risk management into a strategic advantage
Climate resilience is no longer just risk management, it’s a business priority.
Open Sesame is a European initiative designed to help organizations better understand, measure, and act on the financial value of resilience, through connecting climate risk, resilience, and finance.
This joint initiative brings together the Federation of European Risk Management Associations (FERMA), the leading voice of risk management in Europe, representing over 6,800 professionals across 23 countries and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), a global organization mobilizing business leadership on sustainability.
FERMA’s expertise in enterprise risk management and their extensive European network serves as a critical partner in bridging the gap between climate risk assessment and real-world financial decision-making. By combining this with WBCSD’s leadership in sustainable business, this partnership is uniquely positioned to develop practical and decision-useful approaches.
Together, we are building methodologies to measure risk more effectively and quantify the value of resilience to unlock better investment decisions.
The Challenge
Climate risks are escalating in frequency and severity, faster than traditional financing and insurance systems can keep up.
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• Losses from climate events are rising
• Insurance capacity is under pressure
• Funding is largely reactive, not preventive
The Solution
An initiative designed to unlock financing for preventative and adaptive climate measures.
By bringing together leaders across:
By bringing together leaders across:
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• Risk management
• Insurance
• Banking & investment
• Sustainable finance
Why It Matters
What We’re Building
A unified framework that makes climate resilience:
✓ Measurable
✓ Investable
✓ Scalable
✓ Aligned with sustainable finance
Open Sesame
Open Sesame is a first-of-its-kind collaboration between WBCSD and FERMA, designed to connect climate risk, resilience and finance. Together, we will develop practical approaches to measure physical risk, quantify the value of resilience, and help unlock more informed investment decisions. Ultimately, supporting a unified European framework for resilience finance. Join us to help shape the work and open what’s next for resilience finance.
Climate Risk Briefing: El Niño as a Stress Test for Business Resilience
The latest warning from the World Meteorological Organization underlines that El Niño conditions are expected to emerge in 2026, with an 80% probability for June to August and a roughly 90% chance of persisting thereafter. For business leaders, this is not simply a seasonal climate update. It is a near-term signal that climate variability is interacting with an already warmer baseline, increasing the likelihood and severity of heat stress, drought, flooding, marine impacts and supply disruption across value chains. This briefing should help members understand why El Niño matters now, what types of shocks it can trigger across operations, sourcing, logistics and markets, and how this moment reinforces the case for more proactive resilience planning.
Key Focus Areas
Climate Risk Modelling
Creating consistent and credible exposure models across industries.
Measuring Impact of Adaptation
Standardizing how preventive measures reduce risk.
Investment Decision Frameworks
Defining clear methods to evaluate resilience investments.
Investor Alignment
Translating resilience into metrics that attract capital and meet sustainability requirements.
Who’s Involved
A cross-sector collaboration including:
✓ (Re)insurers & brokers
✓ Risk engineers & modellers
✓ Financial institutions & investors
✓ Sustainability experts
✓ Global corporations
FERMA
The leading voice of risk management in Europe, representing 6,800+ professionals across 23 countries.
WBCSD
A global community of 230+ companies driving sustainable business and system transformation toward a net-zero future.
