This report presents a preliminary operational framework for economies to improve the financial resilience of critical infrastructure services - it builds on existing principles and approaches to disaster risk financing. Six sectors are widely classified as being critical: energy, transport, water, information and communications technologies (ICT), health, and finance.

This report is about protecting critical infrastructure services rather than just the underpinning assets. It focuses mainly on disruptions related to natural hazards, such as storms or floods, but also on pandemics; however, disruptions can sometimes result from manmade shocks, such as terrorism and cyber-attacks.

Two sources of contingent liability are associated with critical services beyond the cost of the physical assets and are in addition to the potential loss of revenues from the economic disruption:

• costs for maintaining and reinstating critical services;
• costs of implicit contingent liabilities.

Ensuring high-quality, reliable, sustainable, and resilient critical infrastructure services when faced with such shocks is a growing priority and a part of many countries’ core national security planning.