Climate Change

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What Happened

In a press release published August 25, New York Senators James Skoufis, Jamaal Bailey, and Brian Kavanagh announced a joint investigation into residential property insurance. The purpose of the investigation is “to identify the causes of reported increases in premiums and other obstacles to insuring new and existing single- and multi-family homes, including those occupied by homeowners and renters, and to identify legislation and policy changes that New York State should implement.”Read More New York Legislators Investigate Residential Property Insurance

On October 13, 2022, the Illinois Department of Insurance (the “Department”) issued Company Bulletin 2022-16 (the “Bulletin”).  The Bulletin is addressed to all domestic insurers and advises that the Department will now participate in the National Association of Insurance Commissioners Climate Risk Disclosure Survey (the “Survey”).
Read More Illinois to Participate in the Climate Risk Disclosure Survey

The NAIC adopted at its April 7 meeting the recommendations of its Climate Risk & Resiliency Task Force to revise its Climate Risk Disclosure Survey.  As we described in our Locke Lord QuickStudy: Insurers Hit with Two Climate Disclosure Developments on the Same Day, the revisions make the Survey consistent with the international Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) disclosure framework. …
Read More NAIC Adopts New Climate Risk Disclosure Standard for its Survey

On March 21, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the National Association of Insurance Commissioners both proposed significant revisions to climate disclosure rules. If adopted, these rules would require affected insurers to disclose climate-related risk assessments and management at the board and C-Suite level and, in some instances, Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions.
Read More SEC and the NAIC Propose Significant New Climate Reporting Requirements

In a September 1 InsureReinsure Blog post, I discussed the Federal Insurance Office Request for Information on the Insurance Sector and Climate-Related Financial Risks. Responses to the request were due to the FIO on or before November 15, 2021.
Read More Federal Insurance Office Releases Responses to Request for Information on the Insurance Sector and Climate-Related Financial Risks

In addition to the discussion of the future of the energy sector at the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (”COP26”) taking place in Glasgow, Scotland from October 31 – November 12, 2021, there has also been a discussion of the role of the insurance industry in addressing climate change.
Read More Insurers in the Mix at COP 26 in Glasgow, Scotland

On October 8, 2021, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (“NOAA”) ‎announced that the number of billion-dollar plus disasters so far in 2021 had achieved a new ‎record high of 18 as of the end of September, putting 2021 on a pace to exceed the record ‎number of billion-dollar plus disasters set in 2020.
Read More The United States Hit With 18 Separate Billion-Dollar Disasters So Far in 2021, a New Record

On August 31, 2021, the Federal Insurance Office (“FIO”) issued a request for information ‎regarding climate-related financial risk in the insurance sector. In the Request, the FIO laid out a ‎conceptual framework for categorizing climate-related financial risk and its three pronged ‎approach to implement portions of the President’s January 27, 2021 Executive Order on the ‎Climate Crises and his May 20, 2021 Executive Order on Climate-Related Risk in the Financial ‎Sector.
Read More Federal Insurance Office Spells Out Priorities Regarding Climate-Related Financial Risks in Insurance Sector

On August 16, 2021, The Connecticut Department of Insurance released its National Survey on Climate Risk in the Insurance Industry. The survey’s main objectives are for insurers to report on climate-related risks and to provide the Department with more information to evaluate climate risk.
Read More Connecticut Insurance Department Releases its National Climate Risk Survey

The Connecticut General Assembly passed climate-related risk legislation on June 17, 2021 in a section of its state budget implementation bill, making this legislation the first climate-related risk legislation in the United States. SB 1202 Section 346 incorporates provisions of SB 1047, a bill introduced by the Insurance Committee and Real Estate Committee.
Read More Connecticut Passes the First Climate-Related Risk Legislation in the United States