Dr Kate Simmonds
Kate is the Senior Manager, Climate Resilience at the Investor Group on Climate Change. She is responsible for uplifting investor understanding and action on physical risk, advocating for effective adaptation policy, and supporting opportunities for private investment in resilience. Kate is also on the Steering Committee of the NESP Climate Systems Hub.
Previously, Kate worked in the insurance sector as a Senior Climate Analyst for Willis Re and Gallagher Re. She led the development of their Australia and New Zealand climate change strategy and built their first physical climate risk models, covering bushfire, flood, and cyclone. She was a member of the Insurance Council of Australia’s Climate Change Action Committee and contributed to the Climate Measurement Standards Initiative.
Kate has a PhD from the University of Melbourne in landscape resilience, a First Class Honours in climate science from the University of New South Wales, and a Bachelor of Science (Advanced) from the University of Sydney.
Contacts
Submission: Victorian Draft Adaptation Action Plans 2027-31
Submission | Kate Simmonds | 15 July 2026
IGCC strongly supports Victoria’s use of sector-based adaptation planning. For investors, these Plans help provide confidence that regions will maintain economic resilience and therefore are a safe place for investment. While IGCC is broadly supportive of the actions identified, we encourage the Victorian Government to strengthen the Plans by improving the specificity and accountability of actions, increasing focus on adaptation finance, prioritising regulation and planning reform, and developing longer-term adaptation pathways beyond 2031.Submission: Australian Energy Regulator Network Resilience Guidelines
Submission | Kate Simmonds | 9 July 2026
IGCC supports the AER’s efforts to provide greater clarity on resilience expenditure. However, the consultation paper focuses primarily on process, rather than strategic issues shaping network resilience. IGCC encourages the AER to strengthen its broader approach to network resilience by closing gaps in climate science and risk assessment, improving system-level coordination, standardising financial assessment of resilience, considering community vulnerability, supporting flexible adaptation pathways, and increasing transparency of decision-making.
Just Adaptation: An Introduction for Institutional Investors
Report | Dr Kate Simmonds | 10/6/2026
Our newest resource helps investors understand and respond to the social dimensions of climate adaptation.
New resource: Introducing just adaptation for institutional investors
9 June 2026
Our newest resource helps investors understand and respond to the social dimensions of climate adaptation.
New guide supports defensible physical climate risk assessments for infrastructure
18 May 2026
Resilient Infrastructure: Physical Climate Risk Assessments for Defensible Decision‑Making provides practical guidance for investors, companies and service providers to assess physical climate risks in a way that supports defensible decision-making and real-world resilience outcomes.