Travelers Institute®: Thought Leadership on Disaster Preparedness
The Travelers Institute, the public policy division of Travelers, has an extensive history of advancing education and dialogue around disaster preparedness. These efforts began in 2009 with the publication of the Travelers Coastal Wind Zone Plan, which offered a comprehensive, private-market approach to insuring the Gulf and Atlantic coasts and addressed the crisis of availability and affordability of coastal wind insurance for homeowners. Building on this flagship publication, the Travelers Institute launched an event series called Kicking Off Hurricane Preparedness Season to help families, businesses and communities prepare ahead of the Atlantic hurricane season. Since its inception, the Travelers Institute has hosted 15 in-person events, as well as eight webinars, with respect to disaster preparedness. Following extreme weather events like Superstorm Sandy, the Travelers Institute also initiated an event series called Insurance Essentials: Your Questions Answered to help individuals make informed decisions when selecting personal insurance policies.
In 2024, the Travelers Institute’s Wednesdays with Woodward® webinar series took viewers on a live, exclusive tour of the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) Research Center, a nonprofit state-of-the-art research facility. The behind-the-scenes webinar featured live demonstrations of IBHS’s 105 wind turbines, hail lab and wind-driven wildfire simulations, showcasing how IBHS’s scientific approach can help make communities more resilient and inform issuers’ underwriting and pricing practices, as well as how the insurance industry’s partnership makes valuable research possible.
Related resources
- Travelers Institute® Webinar: Wind, Rain, Fire: LIVE from IBHS!
- Travelers Institute® Webinar: Reducing Wildfire Risks One Tree at a Time
Illustrative initiatives
Wildfire Defense Services
Protecting Our Customers from Increased Wildfire Risk
While our commitment to our customers is to make them whole after a covered loss such as a wildfire, we also help our customers avoid the loss entirely or mitigate the loss should one occur.
Travelers Fortifies Communities
Building Strong, Resilient Communities
We partner with Habitat for Humanity®, SBP, Smart Home America, Team Rubicon and the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety to build affordable, wind-resistant homes to FORTIFIED Home™ standards throughout the country.
Wednesdays with Woodward® Webinar Series
Thought Leadership Programming
The Travelers Institute’s Wednesdays with Woodward® webinar series explores pressing issues at the intersection of public policy, insurance, business and leadership.
