On June 5, the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) announced the creation of a Research Chair in Actuarial and Climate Sciences (ClimACT). It will be headed by Mathieu Boudreault, actuary and professor in UQAM's Department of Mathematics.
The work to be carried out by the ClimACT Chair's researchers aims to develop concrete research tools to support governments, financial institutions, pension plans and society in preparing for the challenges of climate change. The official launch of the Chair will take place on Sept. 24.
The creation of the Chair was announced in a press release on June 5. Contacted a few days later by the Insurance Portal, Mathieu Boudreault explained that there wasn't enough time to officially launch the Chair before summer arrived. "The official funding agreements were signed only recently. This gives us time to ensure that key people will be present at the launch," he adds.
UQAM already devotes considerable effort to cutting-edge climate change research. Boudreault is himself a member of the university’s regional climate studies and simulation centre – Centre pour l'étude et la simulation du climat à l'échelle régionale (Escer). The other professors associated with the Escer centre are mainly from the Département des sciences de la Terre et de l’atmosphère (Earth and atmospheric sciences department).
His colleague Philippe Gachon, from the department of geography, is also a member of the Centre, and both professors are also members of Quebec’s intersectoral flooding network – Réseau Inondations intersectoriel du Québec (RIISQ).
1.5 million over five years
Three property and casualty insurance companies have agreed to finance the work of the ClimACT Chair: Intact, Definity and Co-operators. Each company will provide $500,000, for a total of $1.5 million over five years.
“The increasing risks associated with climate-related phenomena threaten the financial security of Canadians,” says Mathieu Giguère, Vice President, P&C Business Intelligence and Chief Analytics Officer at Co-operators, while Liam McFarlane, Chief Risk and Actuarial Officer at Definity, warns that “climate change is a defining issue of our time and the impacts across Canada on our infrastructure, communities, economy, and health will only continue.” Isabelle Girard, Intact's Senior Vice-President and Chief Digital and Data Officer, stressed “the need to collaborate with other stakeholders to find solutions that go beyond insurance.”
According to Prof. Boudreault, the private-sector investment will facilitate the search for other sources of public funding, notably from Mitacs, a Canadian innovation organization and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC).
"To accelerate adaptation in Canada, it's a good thing to have several insurers supporting the Chair. If we want to have the necessary conversations about adaptation and mitigation, we need to better quantify the financial risks," he explains.
Progress report
Over the summer, the Chair's advisory committee will be set up and the website designed. The main research priorities will be confirmed and announced at the launch in September.
Other universities, such as the Western University and the University of Waterloo, also have research programs focusing on climate adaptation and helping to improve public policy. How will the ClimACT Chair differ from what's being done elsewhere?
"My expertise lies in actuarial modeling of climate risks. We're looking to better understand the behavior of financial risks, whether physical or transitional," explains Mathieu Boudreault. “Modelling and understanding climate risks will be at the heart of our activities.”
Physical risk arises from extreme weather events that can damage material assets and affect health. Transition risk aims to assess the impact on the financial value of a company or its assets if the shift towards carbon neutrality is too slow for investors' liking.
Boudreault already collaborates with a number of Escer Centre researchers, some of whom have been involved in developing the lines of research to be carried out at the ClimACT Chair. “It's also a good way of integrating the work carried out by Escer Centre researchers into the financial services industry,” he says.
“UQAM's actuarial and atmospheric science programs are well recognized for their expertise,” he continues. The multidisciplinary nature of the work carried out by the Chair should help the institution to recruit graduate candidates straight from their undergraduate studies.
Five-year funding will help stabilize the research workforce. The way research is funded in universities forces professors to spend a good deal of their time looking for funding. "UQAM is committed to creating this structure, which will extend beyond the five-year period. It provides administrative support for me as chairholder and for the other professors, enabling us to develop knowledge and help stakeholders integrate it," he says.
Boudreault had already obtained funding from Co-operators for certain research projects. The fact that he has been able to convince other insurers to join the Chair enables him to broaden the scope of his work. In the medium term, he says, other insurers, and even the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC), may find it in their interests to support the research.
“Stable funding will help us react more quickly to situations as they arise,” he adds, giving the example of the National Flood Insurance Program, promised for several years by the Canadian government, but the details of which are not yet known.
The profession
In early 2023, the Canadian Institute of Actuaries (CIA) issued a Board of Directors' statement on the subject of climate risks. In addition to physical and transition risk, the Institute also highlighted the liability risk associated with potential exposure to climate-related litigation. For example, commercial and residential real estate in Canada's coastal regions may be threatened by rising sea levels.
At the end of April 2025, the Institute also published a statement of intent entitled Building a Resilient Future: Enhancing Climate Adaptation and Resilience in Canada.
As an Institute Fellow and researcher, Prof. Boudreault “feels it is important to contribute to the profession by developing tools to integrate climate-related risks so that this is done within standards of practice.”
