Resilience and Adaptation Case Studies
Background and Purpose
In 2025, the United States experienced 23 weather and climate disasters with damages exceeding $1 billion, totaling an estimated $115 billion in losses. These events included a record 21 severe storm and tornado outbreaks, alongside a heat‑driven western drought and several destructive flooding events. The costliest disaster of the year was the January Los Angeles wildfires, which caused more than $61 billion in damage and stand as the most expensive wildfire on record[1]. Outside the United States, extreme weather also proved devastating: catastrophic floods in Southeast Asia claimed more than 1,000 lives, while Hurricane Melissa—one of the most intense Atlantic storms ever recorded—brought severe destruction to Jamaica and Cuba[2].
Many organizations and individuals are committed to efforts to build resilience to minimize the impact of an event and/or to mitigate the damage caused by an event. 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].
- Internationally, the Netherlands continues to expand its climate‑adaptive “Room for the River” program, redesigning urban and rural landscapes to safely absorb floodwaters and reduce the severity of future storm‑driven inundation[6].
Of course, before implementing a resilience or adaptation program, the program sponsor 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 and its resources?” and “how much risk are we taking?” After the fact, key questions include “how well did the initiative perform relative to expectations?” and “what can we learn from this process?”
Insurers, investment firms, and other risk-bearing organizations ask similar questions if there is a new resilience or adaptation program that will impact their financial results. For example, if a hurricane-prone state enacts a law requiring stricter building codes, then, presumably, there would be beneficial investment firms specializing in real estate. Although actuaries are trained to answer these questions for traditional risks related to their practice area, climate events introduce a new type of risk since they are volatile, increasing in frequency, and data is limited.
Research Objective
The Society of Actuaries Research Institute (SOA) Catastrophe and Climate Strategic Research Program is seeking researchers to provide one or more case studies evaluating the impact of a resilience and/or adaptation program from the perspective of a life, retirement, health, investment or ERM actuary. The case study or studies must meet the following requirements:
- They should be written in a manner that can easily be presented to both technical and non-technical audiences.
- They should provide a roadmap for others in a similar situation to follow.
- They should be of a practical nature, valuable for use by a practicing actuary.
- They should include a quantitative section that describes the analytical process from the viewpoint of a practicing actuary.
- Whenever possible, the data underlying the quantitative section should be based on consistent, reliable data sources available to others. If proprietary or synthetic data is used, it should be like data that is commonly available.
- The quantitative section should include a discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of the assumptions and methodology followed, and a demonstration of how to derive key metrics using the methodology.
- In all cases, the methodology should be described in such detail that a reader could utilize their own data with the methodology.
Proposal Requirements
To facilitate the evaluation of proposals, the following information should be submitted:
- Resumes of the researcher(s), including any graduate student(s) expected to participate, indicating how their background, education and experience bear on their qualifications to undertake the research. If more than one researcher is involved, a single individual should be designated as the lead researcher and primary contact. The person submitting the proposal must be authorized to speak on behalf of all the researchers as well as for the firm or institution on whose behalf the proposal is submitted.
- An outline of the approach to be used (e.g. literature search, model, etc.), emphasizing issues that require special consideration. Details should be given regarding the techniques to be used, collateral material to be consulted, and possible limitations of the analysis.
- A description of the expected deliverables and any supporting data, tools or other resources.
- Cost estimates for the research, including computer time, salaries, report preparation, material costs, etc. Such estimates can be in the form of hourly rates, but in such cases, time estimates should also be included. Any guarantees as to total cost should be given and will be considered in the evaluation of the proposal. While cost will be a factor in the evaluation of the proposal, it will not necessarily be the decisive factor.
Please note that as a policy, the SOA Research Institute generally does not provide funding to cover academic institution overhead expenses.
As a guide for developing the project budget, please review the Historical Project Cost Guide (see Appendix)
- A schedule for completion of the research, identifying key dates or time frames for research completion and report submissions. The SOA Catastrophe and Climate Strategic Research Program is interested in completing this project in a timely manner. Suggestions in the proposal for ensuring timely delivery, such as fee adjustments, are encouraged.
- Other related factors that give evidence of a proposer's capabilities to perform in a superior fashion should be detailed.
- Proposals must be no more than five pages in length exclusive of references and researcher bios.
Selection Process
The SOA Catastrophe and Climate Strategic Research Program will appoint a Project Oversight Group (POG) to oversee the project. The SOA Catastrophe and Climate Strategic Research Program is responsible for recommending the proposal to be funded. Input from other knowledgeable individuals also may be sought, but the SOA Catastrophe and Climate Strategic Research Program will make the final recommendation, subject to Society of Actuaries Research Institute (SOA) leadership approval. An SOA staff research actuary will provide staff actuarial support.
Questions
Any questions regarding this RFP should be directed to Research-CC@soa.org.
Notification of Intent to Submit Proposal
If you intend to submit a proposal, please email written notification by May 22, 2026 to Research-CC@soa.org.
Submission of Proposal
Please email your proposal to Research-CC@soa.org ; proposals must be received no later than June 5, 2026. It is anticipated that all proposers will be informed of the status of their proposal by the end July 2026.
Conditions
The selection of a proposal is conditioned upon and not considered final until a Letter of Agreement is executed by both the Society of Actuaries Research Institute and the researcher.
The Society of Actuaries Research Institute reserves the right to not award a contract for this research. Reasons for not awarding a contract could include, but are not limited to, a lack of acceptable proposals or a finding that insufficient funds are available. The Society of Actuaries Research Institute also reserves the right to redirect the project as is deemed advisable.
The Society of Actuaries Research Institute plans to hold the copyright to the research and to publish the results with appropriate credit given to the researcher(s).
The Society of Actuaries Research Institute may choose to seek public exposure or media attention for the research. By submitting a proposal, you agree to cooperate with the [Society of Actuaries/sponsoring entity] in publicizing or promoting the research and responding to media requests.
The Society of Actuaries may also choose to market and promote the research to members, candidates and other interested parties. You agree to perform promotional communication requested by the Society of Actuaries Research Institute, which may include, but is not limited to, leading a webcast on the research, presenting the research at an SOA meeting, and/or writing an article on the research for an SOA newsletter.
Conflict of Interest
You agree to disclose any of your material business, financial and organizational interests and affiliations which are or may be construed to be reasonably related to the interest, activities and programs of the Society of Actuaries Research Institute.
Appendix
The cost ranges below are intended as a guide for budgeting project costs for proposals in response to SOA Research Institute Request for Proposals (RFP). Please note these figures span the 33rd to 66th percentiles for all projects as well as projects that involve a specific approach (lit review, survey, etc.). They are based on historical costs over several recent years. Expected costs for some RFPs may fall outside these ranges depending on the nature of the work and resources required for completion.
All Contracted Projects
This category includes all contracted projects that the Institute has undertaken within the last several years.
The 33rd-66th percentile project costs range is $25,000 - $50,000.
Literature Reviews
This category includes projects that involved only a literature review or the cost for the portion of a larger project that included a literature review.
The 33rd-66th percentile project costs range is $15,000 - $20,000.
Surveys
This category includes all projects that had a survey as their primary component.
The 33rd-66th percentile project costs range is $28,000 - $55,000.
[1] 2025 in Review: U.S. Billion-Dollar Disasters | Climate Central
[2] 12 top disasters of 2025 | World Vision
[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