The Federation of European Risk Management Associations used its General Assembly in Brussels on June 30 to advance a specific and commercially substantive initiative: Open Sesame, a joint project with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development that brings together risk management, insurance, sustainable finance, banking and the investment community to develop a unified finance framework helping organisations fund climate-related prevention and adaptation measures before losses occur, rather than relying solely on post-event capital.
Confirmed participants include Allianz Commercial, Aon, FM, Howden, Marsh and SCOR, with Boston Consulting Group acting as secretariat. The initiative was launched in May 2026 and represents what FERMA president Philippe Cotelle described as the Federation "pushing beyond our traditional boundaries."
The pre-event framing is the commercially significant element. Open Sesame's focus on shifting capital toward climate resilience before losses occur directly echoes concerns already raised in the UK, where the Association of British Insurers has repeatedly called on government to commit to sustained annual investment in flood defences after insurers paid out a record £585 million in weather-related home damage claims in 2024. Flood Re-commissioned research has found that flood defences already save UK households an estimated £1.15 billion in damage each year - a ratio that makes the case for prevention investment more clearly than any post-event claims figure can.
"Projects such as Open Sesame, which supports new approaches to financing climate adaptation, demonstrate that risk managers have an increasingly important role to play in addressing society's biggest challenges," Cotelle said.
The Open Sesame launch sits within a broader strategic direction Cotelle has been advancing since taking over as FERMA president in October 2025 under the "Together Stronger" banner - a commitment to strengthening connections between FERMA's 24 national member associations across 23 European countries, which together represent more than 6,800 risk managers across sectors ranging from major industrial and commercial companies to financial institutions and local government bodies.
Concrete steps taken under that agenda include FERMA's inaugural Presidents' Workshop, held in Brussels in November 2025 and attended by 15 national association presidents, and the establishment of the Next Generation European Risk Council. Cotelle has described the goal as repositioning FERMA less as a coordinator of activities and more as a hub connecting people, facilitating knowledge exchange and delivering value across its network.
The General Assembly also confirmed the election of five new members to the FERMA Board: Sonia Cambier, head of corporate insurance and prevention at Solvay; Sharon Cilia Tortell, chief risk and sustainability officer at Steadfast Insurance Partners Ltd; Gabriella Fraire, chief executive of Prysmian Riassicurazioni S.p.A.; Panu Haapaniemi, director of risk management at UPM; and Richard Hoult, vice president of risk, audit and compliance at Synthomer.
FERMA's next major gathering, the FERMA Forum, is scheduled to take place in Rotterdam from October 4 to 6, 2026 under the theme "Widening the Lens: From Risk Insight to Strategic Foresight."
