South Africa Gets its First Climate Index to Track Weather Risks

South African actuaries launched the nation’s first country-specific climate index as experts seek to manage risks and losses brought about by an increasing frequency of droughts, fires, floods and other extreme weather events.

The new free-to use index, developed for the Actuarial Society of South Africa, is updated quarterly and allows users to measure the frequency of specific extreme weather events against a 30-year base period that spans Jan. 1 1991 to Dec. 31 2020.