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”).

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. 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

New York Department of Financial Services (DFS) released its climate change guidance New York domestic insurers for comment on March 26, 2021. The Guidance, found here, seeks to support domestic insurers in managing the financial risks associated with climate change.