NAIC Task Force Meets to Address Climate and Resiliency

WASHINGTON (February 9 , 2021) — The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) discussed the work of its Climate and Resiliency Task Force during meetings of insurance regulators last week, coordinating state-level efforts to address growing climate risk in the insurance sector. The Climate and Resiliency Task Force coordinates the NAIC’s domestic and international efforts on climate and resiliency issues, including dialogue among regulators, the industry, insurance consumers and other stakeholders. The Task Force addresses national issues and provides states information and tools to support their own individual markets. The NAIC looks forward to working with the new Administration and Congress on the critical work of addressing climate and resiliency issues facing insurance consumers and insurance markets.

The Task Force will hear reports at the NAIC National Meeting on major issues facing state regulators:  pre-disaster mitigation, solvency, climate risk disclosure, innovation, and technology. Within these workstreams the Task Force will consider risk reduction measures and the role insurance regulators can play in advancing these efforts to ultimately better protect and prepare policyholders and insurance markets to withstand the physical and economic consequences of climate risk; evaluate financial regulatory approaches to climate risk and resiliency; consider appropriate climate risk disclosures for insurers; consider innovative solutions and strategies within the insurance sector; and review the use of predictive modeling to better assess and evaluate climate risk exposures. Information on the work of the Task Force can be found on the Climate and Resiliency (EX) Task Force page.

“The Climate and Resiliency Task Force is taking on the important charge of evaluating regulatory approaches to help make their communities more resilient and finding innovative solutions that offer consumers better protection. I thank co-chairs, California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara and South Carolina Insurance Director Ray Farmer, for their leadership on the Task Force,” said David Altmaier, NAIC President and Commissioner of the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation. “The NAIC enables state insurance regulators to collaborate and share data, while still offering approaches that address the individual risks of their state.”

“Whether we face wildfires, sea level rise, extreme storms or other climate threats, state insurance regulators are all united in the need for insurance companies to address climate risks,” said California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara. “We are encouraged by the interest of the new Administration and Congress on critical work of protecting consumers.”

“The NAIC has long been engaged in looking for ways to mitigate environmental risks and how to educate consumers to become more resilient,” said Ray Farmer, Director of the South Carolina Department of Insurance. “Helping consumers and local governments find ways to prepare for and mitigate extreme weather is an important role of an insurance commissioner and this Task Force.”