Crisis Protection 2.0: A better way to prepare for disasters

Author: Center for Disaster Protection

Crises are not surprises. Yet too often, governments are forced to scramble for funds after a disaster strikes, instead of pre-arranging financing that could limit the impact on lives, livelihoods, economies, and ecosystems. The High-Level Panel on Closing the Crisis Protection Gap was created to change that. The goal? To reset the international crisis financing architecture – to move from reaction to readiness.

Why this matters now

With climate-related shocks set to increase in both frequency and intensity, outdated funding models just can’t keep up. And the crisis protection gap – the difference between the money needed to respond to disasters when they happen and the actual amount of money arranged in advance and ready for when it’s needed – continues to grow.

The impact of disasters on communities is felt in days and weeks, yet funding for responses is often measured in months or even years. Business-as-usual cannot continue when reactive funding remains too slow and too costly, leaving the world exposed. That’s why we launched the High-Level Panel: to push for smarter, faster funding that saves lives and stabilises economies.

The Centre for Disaster Protection brought together 20 influential global leaders, including finance ministers, insurers, and disaster risk experts, to figure out how to get more pre-arranged money into the system and shift towards a more proactive approach to disaster risk. The result was Crisis Protection 2.0: Future-Proofing Our World, a roadmap to scale up pre-arranged finance tenfold by 2035.

“However resilient you are, there are going to be more of these disasters, and there will be cost, and there will be suffering […] What we’re really trying to do in this report is focus right down narrowly on the, ‘let’s get financing agreed before the problem’ […] Our [ask for a] ten-fold increase [of pre-arranged finance] is not outlandish. It’s highly justified by analysis and logic.”

Mark Lowcock, Co-Chair, High-Level Panel on Closing the Crisis Protection Gap

Why a high-level panel?

The Panel brings together players from organisations that too often aren’t talking in the same fora—humanitarian groups, finance leaders, policymakers—to break down silos and find solutions that work across sectors. Convened in January 2024, the panel met throughout the year, engaging with key stakeholders, reviewing the evidence, and gathering insights – including those from global consultations in Belém, Blantyre, London, Manila, New York, Rio, and Washington, DC.

The resulting ten-step roadmap for scaling up pre-arranged finance offers a blueprint for action, providing governments and institutions with practical, actionable solutions for addressing the challenges of tomorrow’s disasters.

I think the sense of how important this is helped us craft a simple, focused approach. We knew that we had to focus on a shared agenda. We knew that there had to be shared responsibility. We wanted to be practical […] There are a lot of competing demands, so why don’t we at least focus on what is doable? Given its value for money, focus on pre-arranged finance.

Arunma Oteh, Co-Chair, High-Level Panel on Closing the Crisis Protection Gap

What’s next?

At the FT Live launch of Crisis Protection 2.0 on January 30 2025, we saw momentum and a genuine appetite for the messages the report was delivering. A packed room of more than 80 in-person attendees, joined by over 500 live viewers, showed the extent to which this agenda resonates. The (now) former UK Minister for Development, Anneliese Dodds, endorsed the recommendations, recognising the urgency of putting money in place before crises unfold. The event also featured deep engagement from attendees—sharp questions, serious interest, and clear enthusiasm for making these ideas a reality.

“The need for change could not be clearer. On every continent, extreme weather events are on the rise. Millions of vulnerable people are bearing the brunt of shock after shock. The impact ripples out across our increasingly interconnected world. Yet just 2% of what the world spends on disasters is arranged in advance, despite the fact that this prearranged approach can pay for itself three or four times over preventing losses, protecting growth and jobs, reducing the need for humanitarian relief.”

The Rt Hon Anneliese Dodds MP

Now it’s time for action. Governments, international institutions, and the private sector must step up and turn these recommendations into policies.

The Centre will continue pushing this agenda forward, working to integrate these solutions into global financial policies and mechanisms. We’re already seeing progress, with key governments and institutions starting to adopt pre-arranged financing in their policies.

Explore the recommendations and learn how to get involved at www.crisisprotectiongap.org.