Across Europe, regions and local authorities face increasing climate risks, limited public budgets, and growing protection gaps (underinsurance, unaffordable coverage, low risk awareness, limited data, or misaligned incentives). Insurance can play a key role in supporting adaptation not only by transferring risk, but also by enabling prevention, preparedness, and “build back better” approaches when appropriately integrated into adaptation planning.
However, territories often lack a clear, practical process to identify protection gaps, co-design feasible insurance pathways with stakeholders, and move from assessment to implementation within regional adaptation planning processes. Evidence from SOTERIA regional case studies shows that this gap is mainly operational rather than informational, with challenges linked to stakeholder alignment, data availability, and governance coordination.
The SOTERIA Replication Manual fills this gap by providing a practical, step-bystep approach aligned with the Regional Adaptation Support Tool (RAST) to help regional and local actors design, assess and implement insurance-based adaptation solutions. The approach is grounded in SOTERIA case studies and complemented with tools, templates and examples to support real decision-making contexts.
This Manual is primarily intended for regional and local authorities, but it can also support other actors involved in insurance-based adaptation, including insurance partners, civil protection bodies, and technical practitioners or researchers. It is designed for users with different starting points: from those beginning adaptation planning to those with existing risk assessments who want to explore where insurance can reduce protection gaps.