State insurance regulators are on the front lines of climate-related natural catastrophe preparedness and response, protecting policyholders and maintaining well-functioning insurance markets.
The NAIC, which brings together state insurance regulators, has long been committed to monitoring and addressing how climate-related risks affect policyholders and the insurance industry. There’s critical work being done in every state, and it’s an issue that continues to change rapidly. Our insurance regulatory system is accustomed to adapting to an evolving risk landscape and is well-positioned to address the challenges presented by climate-related risks both today and in the future.
For more than 150 years, from the first fire insurance policies influencing building codes to today’s record-breaking natural catastrophes driving population shifts, state insurance regulators have experience and insight into the impact of climate-related risk on insurance and consumers.
Federal, state, and local stakeholders need to work collaboratively toward mitigation goals. State officials need access to hazard and vulnerability data to identify and address risk characteristics of the local area. Many, but not all, states have Chief Resilience Offices. All states have State Hazard Mitigation Officers. State departments can take an active role in working with federal, state, and local agencies to develop and implement hazard mitigation plans as well as implement policy, legislative, and regulatory actions to support mitigation and resilience.
Ways to get involved:
Various federal and state agencies contribute to mitigation and resiliency. The U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit provides access to regional and local experts across the nation available to assist in climate resilience.
Resilience partners include:
- State Resilience Officers
- State and Local Emergency Managers
- Building Code Enforcement Officials
- Fire Departments/Districts
- Floodplain Managers
- Parks and Recreation Managers
- Planning and Community Development Officials
- Public Information Officers
- Public Works Departments
- Stormwater Managers
- Transportation Officials
- Regional Planning Agencies
- City Councils/Board of Commissions
- Planning Commissions
- Planning and Community Development Planners
- Non-profit Disaster Safety and Recovery Organizations
- Local Business Leaders
In 2021, California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara announced a partnership between the California Department of Insurance and Governor Gavin Newsom’s Administration, including the Governor's Office of Emergency Services (CalOES), the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE), the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research (OPR), and the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to establish consistent statewide standards for home and community hardening that will reduce wildfire risk, protect lives and property, and help make insurance available and affordable to residents and businesses.
The Maryland Insurance Administration is a member of the Adaptation and Resiliency Working Group, hosted by the Maryland Department of the Environment. Members of the group include organizations, academic institutions, energy providers, and state and local government agencies.
The role of the Chief Resilience Office (CRO) is typically created by executive order or legislative action. CROs can be situated in governor's offices, environmental agencies or public safety agencies. For background information on the emergence of Chief Resilience Officers and what states have them, see Instituting Resilience: Recommendations for Governors and Legislators on Establishing and Supporting Chief Resilience Officers.
Even if your state doesn't have a resilience office, there are key stakeholders that need to collaborate on resilience. Smart Growth America produced a guidebook, Building Resilient States: A Framework for Agencies. If you're not sure where to start, a good place would be contacting your state hazard mitigation officer.
State Hazard Mitigation Officers are responsible for creating state Hazard Mitigation Plans. Plans are often a joint effort between multiple agencies and state offices. State department of insurance personnel can get involved in the coordination and planning. The Federal Emergency Management Agency provides a list of state emergency managers with contact information here: https://www.fema.gov/grants/mitigation/state-contacts
FEMA also provides a Guide to Hazard Mitigation Plans: https://www.fema.gov/emergency-managers/national-preparedness/plan
Engaging stakeholders through a comprehensive hazard mitigation plan and strategy helps prepare communities to be more resilient. FEMA resource guides facilitate building public-private partnerships and development of state hazard mitigation plans. State Departments of Insurance can be part of the team to complete emergency planning documents. The Nebraska Department of Insurance collaborated with states officials to develop their state emergency management planning report in 2020. FEMA provides a tool to identify the agency/agencies responsible for coordinating development of Hazard Mitigation Plans as well as the current status.
Hazard Mitigation Officers are connected through organizations such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the National Emergency Management Association (NEMA). NEMA fosters partnerships and initiatives to improve the nation's emergency management, homeland security and public safety capabilities.
The Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency Regional Resiliency Assessment Program provides an assessment of critical infrastructure to assess current resilience and potential improvements. The process usually takes about a year to collect and analyze data on the critical infrastructure in a designated area and could be a valuable tool in hazard mitigation planning.
Best Practices in Mitigation Planning for Communities: Beyond the Basics is a website designed to help guide through the process of developing or updating a local hazard mitigation plan that will meet the requirements for approval by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The website offers practical approaches and examples for how communities can engage in effective planning to reduce long-term risk from natural disasters. These examples of best practices were curated from some of the best local hazard mitigation plans in the U.S.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency consists of ten regions in the continental United States and territories. Regional coordinators and state insurance departments need to coordinate after disasters happen but they should start communicating during blue skies to share resources and coordinate on risk mitigation. To find out which region your state is in and the contact information for FEMA regional leaders visit https://www.fema.gov/about/organization/regions
Participate in the NAIC/Federal Emergency Management Agency (C) Advisory Group and ask NAIC staff about FEMA regional workshops https://content.naic.org/cmte_c_fema.htm
FEMA resources and recordings of prior regional workshops are available on the Catastrophe Resource Center.
After assembling the team of experts, you need defined objectives and an action plan. The U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit provides a framework, Steps for Resilience, with case studies, tools, and resources by region. https://toolkit.climate.gov/#steps
Community level risk assessment begins with identifying hazards common to the local area and how the event could impact the community. Several federal resources are available to help communities identify their risk.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) provides GIS mapping tools to identify the level of risk from natural hazards, vulnerable populations and resilience indicators by region.
- The National Risk Index identifies communities at risk for 18 natural hazards. It visualizes natural hazard risk metrics and includes data about expected annual losses from natural hazards, social vulnerability and community resilience. https://www.fema.gov/flood-maps/products-tools/national-risk-index
- The Resilience Analysis and Planning Tool (RAPT) provides access to data and GIS mapping which includes community resilience indicators, current and historical seismic and weather-related events, sea level rise predictions and equity considerations. https://www.fema.gov/emergency-managers/practitioners/resilience-analysis-and-planning-tool
Several states also have risk assessment tools available for the hazards most common to their local area.
In Oregon, Senate Bill 762 required the Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) to produce a statewide wildfire risk map.
Colorado Forest Atlas also provides a wildfire risk public viewer map to increase wildfire awareness across the state.
To understand how disclosure can change consumer buying behaviors, go to the "Consumer Outreach" tab.
The following visual aid, provided by https://www.ready.gov/risk-assessment shows the steps for identifying, assessing, and analyzing natural catastrophe risk.
Where and how we build is critical for community resilience. Building in hazardous regions, without contemplating the need for resilience leaves people and properties vulnerable to disruption. Thoughtful land use and construction design goes a long way in preventing damage from natural perils. When hazards have been identified, the local community should plan and build accordingly. According to the National Institute for Building Sciences (NIBS), there are measures that communities, local governments, land owners, developers, and tenants can take to reduce the impact of natural hazards. NIBS Natural Hazard Mitigation Saves: 2019 Report shows that adopting and enforcing current model codes saves $11 per $1 spent.
In November 2020, FEMA released a report, Building Codes Save: A Nationwide Study evaluating buildings constructed between 2000 and 2016 to analyze the potential losses avoided from flood, hurricane wind, and earthquake by building to code. The study evaluated losses avoided and concluded that building codes not only reduce potential property loss, there are numerous cascading benefits.
Following the work of the study, FEMA developed a building code strategy to prioritize the advancement and enforcement of hazard-resistant building codes and produced a resource page in addition to a Building Code Adoption Playbook.
In addition to building codes, local governments develop land-use laws and zoning restrictions to determine where and how people develop. Integrating risk identification and assessment into thoughtful land use planning can limit building in high risk areas and ensure that buildings are designed and constructed to better withstand perils common to the area.
Ways to get involved:
The International Code Council is the largest international association of building safety professionals, offering solutions dedicated to providing businesses and municipalities with necessary tools to build safe, affordable and sustainable communities. https://www.iccsafe.org/
The International Code Council (ICC) family of solutions includes developing codes and standards, product testing and evaluation, accreditation, software and technology, professional developing and training, and consulting services. https://www.iccsafe.org/products-and-services/icc-family-of-solutions/
ICC develops model codes on a three year cycle. To find out what building codes have been adopted in your state, check out https://www.iccsafe.org/adoptions/. Make sure to select your state and click on "state information and resources" 
to find out what codes have been adopted as well as the state agencies responsible for code adoption locally.
Special building codes, called International Wildland Urban Interface Codes (IWUI), exist to make properties more resilient to wildfire. More than 46 million residences located in 70,000 communities throughout the U.S. are at risk from wildfires. The 2019 NIBS study found that implementing the ICC's 2015 International Wildland Urban Interface Code (IWUIC) saves $4 for every $1 invested. Learn more about IWUI codes here: https://www.iccsafe.org/products-and-services/wildland-urban-interface/
In March 2013, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) released its Integrating Hazard Mitigation Into Local Planning: Case Studies and Tools for Community Officials.
FEMA also developed a course in 2022, Addressing Future Climate, Population, and Land Use in Mitigation Planning.
Building codes are updated on a three-year cycle. Code adoption resources and a toolkit are available here: https://www.iccsafe.org/advocacy/code-adoption-resources/
Nature-based solutions promote resilience by using the natural landscape as a buffer from extreme weather risk. Solutions can be designed to improve water quality, reduce flood risk, and limit coastal erosion. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) provides resources and information on nature-based-solutions.
Verisk's Building Code Effectiveness Grading Schedule (BCEGS®) assesses community building codes and their enforcement, with special emphasis on mitigation of losses from natural hazards. https://www.isomitigation.com/bcegs/
The BCEGS program assesses a community’s building code enforcement in three areas:
Code administration
Plan review
Field inspection
Identify your state/territory BCEGS score here: https://www.isomitigation.com/bcegs/facts-and-figures/
In some areas, insurers may restrict coverage based on the risk characteristics of the region and/or require buildings be constructed to minimum standards to withstand common perils.
The BuildStrong Coalition is a group of firefighters, emergency responders, insurers, engineers, architects, contractors and manufacturers, as well as consumer organizations, code specialists, and others organized to increase investment in mitigation.