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Climate Change Resilience and Adaptation Initiatives and Programs: Call for Essays

Background and Purpose

In 2024, 27 disasters in the United States resulted in damages exceeding $1 billion. These disasters included two winter storms, one wildfire event, one drought/heatwave event, one flooding event, six tornado outbreaks, 11 severe weather/hail events and five hurricanes. The most costly of these events was Hurricane Helene, which resulted in 219 deaths and cost $79.6 billion [1], and the 2025 wildfires in Los Angeles were extremely costly, as well. Outside the United States, Cyclone Chido killed more than 1,000 people, a heatwave in Bangladesh impacted 33 million people and a drought in Columbia has had a significant impact on the economy there [2].

Many organizations and individuals are committed to minimizing the impact of and building resilience against events like these and countless less dramatic ones. Examples of such efforts include:

  • Louisiana strengthened its building codes following Hurricane Katrina [3]
  • New York City implemented the Be a Buddy program in 2018 which is designed to connect volunteers with vulnerable populations to help them find resources, like cooling spots, during a heat emergency [4].
  • In Florida, there are efforts to build hurricane-proof communities. One such community, Hunter’s Point, was able to withstand the effects of Hurricane Helene [5].

Of course, before implementing an adaptation initiative or program to enhance resilience, a decision-maker will have to address several questions before its launch, such as:

  • “What are the expected direct costs and off-setting savings?”
  • “How will this impact the target population?”

After the fact, key questions include “How well did the initiative perform relative to expectations?” and “What can we learn from this process?”.

The purpose of this call for essays is to provide actuaries and others with a better understanding of the underlying conditions leading to the need for resilience and adaptation initiatives, examples of such programs, an overview of quantitative techniques for evaluating such programs, a framework for decision-making, and recommendations for future research.

Scope

Although the primary focus of this call for essays is climate-related risks, essays on catastrophes or other practice areas are welcome.

Topics of Interest

The SOA Research Institute (SOA) invites essay submissions addressing climate change resilience and adaptation initiatives and programs. This call has been intentionally framed in broad terms to encourage a wide range of perspectives and approaches. Contributors may explore one or more of the sample topics listed below or propose alternative specific subjects that fall within the overall theme and scope. The examples provided are illustrative, neither comprehensive nor exhaustive.

Sample topics include:

  • A typology describing the range of current resilience and adaptation programs and initiatives globally

  • Case studies on implemented programs and initiatives

  • The use of AI in the decision-making process

  • Techniques for identifying potential programs

  • Discussions on quantitative techniques for evaluating programs, such as the XGBoost model, the pre/post method, the participant/non-participant method, and discounted cash flow analysis using real option theory

  • Practical applications in actuarial work

Rules for Essay Submission

Timeline

The deadline for submissions is January 22, 2026. Essays will be published as soon as possible in a formal collection.

Length and Instructions for Submission

Essays must be submitted in English with a desired length of between 500 to 2,500 words in Word format. Except for citing quotations or controversial information, formal or extensive footnoting is not required. Essays must comply with the SOA's antitrust guidelines. Essays that contain any overt political statements, commercial content, inflammatory tone, and other inappropriate material will not be accepted for publication.

At the beginning of the essay, please provide the following information about the author: name, credentials or designations (if appropriate), email address, phone number, and either personal street address or title, company/organization name, and company/organization address. Essays accepted for publication will show the author’s name but no further contact information.

Please submit your essay via email to Research-CC@soa.org with the subject line “Climate Change Resilience and Adaptation Initiatives and Programs CFE.”

Awards

Up to $5,855 USD has been allocated to awards for this call for essays. The review committee will select the leading essays and determine how to allocate the award money among them. Consideration will be given to creativity, originality and the extent to which an idea might help promote further thought in this area. In exchange for award money, selected authors will be required to assign all copyrights in their essays to the Society of Actuaries Research Institute.

Authors are ineligible for awards if an essay is based on an SOA Research Institute-sponsored and funded research study conducted by the author. However, authors are welcome to submit such essays for publication consideration.

Publication and Presentation

The SOA will publish and disseminate the essays selected for publication in an electronic format. Essays may also be presented at an SOA meeting, webcast, or other professional development event.

In addition, other venues for publication or presentation of the ideas outside of the SOA may be considered. It is hoped that publication of the collected essays will further knowledge and stimulate discussion as well as promote future efforts in this area.

Rights Granted

By submitting an essay for consideration, the essay author(s) is granting to the Society of Actuaries Research Institute an unlimited license to print or republish their essay with proper attribution given to the author(s).

Questions

Please direct any questions regarding this Call for Essays to Research-CC@soa.org with the subject line “Climate Change Resilience and Adaptation Initiatives and Programs CFE.”

 

[1] 2024: An active year of U.S. billion-dollar weather and climate disasters | NOAA Climate.gov

[2] 2024 climate weather disasters outside united states - Search

[3] Louisiana moves to upgrade building code in wake of Katrina - Business Insurance

[4] Be a Buddy - NYC Mayor's Office of Climate and Environmental Justice

[5] Helene and Milton put this net-zero, hurricane-proof community to the test. The lights stayed on as everything else went dark | CNN