In September 2023, Hong Kong was hit by its heaviest rainfall on record—nearly 6.3 inches (160 mm) in a single hour. Link Asset Management’s Temple Mall North, like many other buildings, suffered severe flood damage. In response, the company invested in detachable flood barriers and Internet-of-Things (IoT) sensors to mitigate future risk. For Link’s bottom line, this resilience investment translated into an 11.7 percent reduction in insurance premiums.
Meanwhile, in Manila, NEO’s buildings weathered yet another typhoon season with the company’s 155 mile per hour (250 kph) wind-rated design—significantly above the required 124 mph (200 kph) minimum. Despite this superior resilience and an A-plus climate rating, according to the Building Resilience Index (BRI), NEO pays the same insurance premiums for its structures as do buildings that barely meet basic codes.
This tale of two developers illustrates a fundamental shift happening throughout Asia-Pacific. Climate phenomena are intensifying in both impact and unpredictability, forcing developers to confront a harsh reality: They can no longer simply absorb higher premiums for climate-exposed buildings.
In extreme cases, such as parts of Queensland and New South Wales that have experienced repeated flooding and bushfires, insurers are cancelling polices. As tools including the Building Resilience Index (BRI) become more accurate and widely adopted, partnerships such as the recent International Finance Corporation—QBE Insurance collaboration are finally creating systematic ways to quantify climate risk assessments and translate resilience investments into measurable value protection and return on investments, such as insurance underwriting benefits.
Resilience is no longer a “nice-to-have” in the property sector; it’s now the quiet deal-breaker shaping investments, operations, and community trust. In the Asia-Pacific region, where climate risks are rising faster than the playbooks to address them, the leaders worth watching aren’t the ones with the biggest budgets—they’re the ones making uncomfortable, operational changes today.
Enter the Building Resilience Index
The Building Resilience Index, developed by the International Finance Corporation, evaluates how well buildings can withstand climate hazards specific to their location and recover from them. Unlike green building certifications focused on operational sustainability, BRI uses a location-specific approach that maps actual hazard risks for each site. Buildings receive letter grades (Figure 1) based on their ability to withstand local hazards such as typhoons, floods, and earthquakes.
The assessment is questionnaire-driven, making it accessible to developers of all sizes while remaining robust enough to satisfy insurer requirements. The Building Resilience Index launched as a pilot in the Philippines in 2020. Since then, it has expanded across East Asia, the Pacific, South Asia, and Latin America.
Figure 1: By using a standardized letter grade rating system, the BRI tool facilitates communicating resilience of buildings to relevant parties, especially to banks and insurers.
Source: https://www.resilienceindex.org
The NEO approach
NEO Philippines exemplifies how developers can integrate climate resilience from the ground up. As Gie Garcia, the company’s co-managing director and chief sustainability officer, explains, NEO has consistently built beyond minimum requirements: “When we [build] our building, there’s a standard building code, right? But we go beyond the building code at least 5 percent more than the standard.”
This approach proved advantageous when NEO participated in the 2020 BRI pilot. With comprehensive documentation and original construction certifications already in place, the assessment process was straightforward. “It was very fast when we did the pilot, because all of these files are with us,” Garcia notes. The company achieved an A-plus rating without any retrofits, demonstrating how upfront planning can streamline resilience validation.
However, this achievement highlights a persistent industry gap. Despite that A-plus rating and superior resilience specifications, NEO receives no insurance premium benefits. “Even if you’re green, you’re resilient, you have all these certifications, you are treated [as] standard, the same as the rest,” Garcia says.
The challenge reflects broader market dynamics in the Philippines, where insurance policies typically involve multiple providers due to high coverage costs, making resilience-based negotiations complex. Yet for NEO, as Garcia emphasizes, “It’s about third-party validation . . . . You don’t claim your building is resilient or green unless it’s been verified.”
This commitment to verified performance positions NEO advantageously for a time when insurance markets evolve but also highlights the current gap between resilience investment and financial recognition.
Even if you’re green, you’re resilient, you have all these certifications, you are treated [as] standard, the same as the rest. So there’s no relaxation. You are treated the same premium as the rest.
Game-changing partnership
The June 2025 partnership between International Finance Corporation and QBE Insurance Asia represents the first systematic attempt to bridge this gap. QBE is the first major insurer to formally integrate BRI assessments into underwriting processes, expanding the program beyond developers to include homebuyers, financial institutions, and governments.
The collaboration focuses on three key areas: stakeholder education through workshops in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (the premier financial and business center in China), Malaysia, Singapore, and Vietnam; product innovation, including parametric insurance solutions and risk-adjusted pricing models; and technical integration of QBE’s underwriting platforms with BRI’s risk assessment tools.
This partnership addresses exactly what NEO and other forward-thinking developers have been waiting for. Buildings with superior BRI ratings will qualify for “broader coverage options, risk-driven and sustainability-linked pricing, expedited claims processing, and parametric insurance solutions that provide rapid payouts based on predefined triggers,” according to the International Finance Corporation.
Although NEO’s experience highlights the frustration of building resilience without immediate financial reward, the QBE Insurance/International Finance Corporation partnership illustrates how insurers are beginning to close that gap. But what happens when a developer pushes the conversation forward themselves?
That’s exactly what Link did. Its approach shows how collaboration with insurers can unlock measurable financial benefits today, offering a real-world blueprint for others in the region.
The Link blueprint
Link’s success demonstrates what’s possible when insurers and developers collaborate directly. Through their partnership with AXA Hong Kong and Marsh, Link achieved an impressive 11.7 percent premium reduction—nearly four times the industry’s approximately 3 percent average. Link also found that an additional 7.5 percent reduction tied to its loss ratio creates ongoing incentives for climate preparedness investments.
Link’s approach involved quantifying climate risk through comprehensive assessments, implementing targeted resilience measures such as flood barriers and IoT sensors, and transparently communicating these investments to insurers. The result: a replicable blueprint that the QBE Insurance/International Finance Corporation partnership aims to standardize across APAC.
The path forward
Taken together, accurate risk assessment tools, insurer recognition, and developer demand are converging into a new paradigm—one that makes climate resilience bankable. As of 2024, the region’s property insurance market was valued at $150.8 billion, with a projected CAGR of 10.5 percent by 2033, according to Cognitive Market Research, thus providing significant opportunity for resilience-linked products.
What makes this shift particularly promising is how accessible these tools are becoming. The BRI’s questionnaire-based approach works for developers of all sizes, not just for region- and class-specific portfolios such as NEO’s. As Garcia notes, “Resilience is far more cost-effective when integrated at the outset, rather than added later through retrofits,” indicating that the integration of climate risk mitigation strategies during the early design and planning phases can substantially reduce marginal costs and improve long-term project efficiency.
The next wave of resilience in APAC will come from imperfect, in-progress attempts that we can learn from and adapt. The tools exist, insurers are ready to engage, and the financial case is becoming clear. But here’s the uncomfortable reality: Even as some developers are still debating whether climate resilience is worth the investment, others are already negotiating lower premiums and positioning themselves as preferred partners for forward-thinking insurers.
Investment strategy guidance:
- Climate Risk and Real Estate Investment Decision-Making
- Climate Risk and Real Estate: Emerging Practices for Market Assessment
- Physical Climate Risks and Underwriting Practices in Assets and Portfolios
Assessment tools and resources:
- How to Choose, Use, and Better Understand Climate Risk Analytics
- 10 Questions to Ask Climate-Risk Analytics Providers
- Building Resilience Index
Risk reduction resources:
Find more reports and resources on ULI Knowledge Finder
With thanks to Gie Garcia, NEO Office PH, and Woody Chan at Link for insights and examples.
