This article was produced by Sage Advisory as part of their valued industry partnership with Insurance Investor.
Insurance-linked securities (ILS) and catastrophe bonds (cat bonds) can serve as a strong form of impact investing by helping to close ever-widening global disaster protection gaps and building greater resilience - while at the same time offering a durable stream of returns which are lightly correlated to financial markets and thus enhance overall portfolio diversification.
Global natural catastrophes generated an estimated $110–$150 billion in economic losses during the first half of 2026, with more than half of those losses uninsured, leaving communities, businesses, and governments with devastating financial burdens. Sage asserts that ILS and cat bonds provide capital to insurers and reinsurers before disasters occur, increasing capacity (i.e., reducing the gap), and therefore accelerating local recovery and strengthening economic resilience and stability, thus narrowing the gap. Unlike many traditional impact investments, investor returns are directly linked to the same risk-transfer mechanism that delivers societal benefits.
ILS and cat bonds portfolios are globally diversified across a broad range of geographies and perils, including hurricanes, earthquakes, wildfires, windstorms, typhoons, terrorism, and cyber-related events. This leads to expanded insurance capacity across both developed and developing regions (where in particular, access and affordability can be severely limited). Historically, the asset class has delivered competitive risk-adjusted returns with low correlation to traditional stocks and bonds – given that performance is driven primarily by insured event risk rather than broad macroeconomic conditions and/or financial market risk.
Ultimately, resilience investing should be viewed as a distinct impact-investing category focused on adaptation and recovery – enabling investors to pursue differentiated returns while at the same time supporting disaster preparedness, accelerated recovery, and long-term economic stability.
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