Ceres Applauds Collaborative Treasury and Insurance Regulators’ Effort to Collect Critical Climate Risk Data

Ceres commends the U.S. Department of the Treasury for its new effort with state insurance regulators and the National Association of Insurance Commissioners to collect crucial climate risk data from homeowners at the zip code level. 

“This collaborative effort aims to understand the potential for major disruptions in home insurance coverage due to climate-related financial risk,” said Steven M. Rothstein, managing director, Ceres Accelerator for Sustainable Capital Markets. “This is a time when the country, and the insurance industry, is facing historic loss due to extreme weather and natural disasters. We need comparable, consistent national information more than ever before. We applaud this new effort, as there has never been a time when this information about homeowner insurance would be more important and urgent.” 

Ceres has consistently advocated for such a data call, as detailed in our recent commentary submission to the Federal Insurance Office. 

The U.S. faces $165 billion annually in damages due to extreme weather disasters, which are occurring more frequently and with greater intensity. On average, according to NOAA, a disaster occurs every 18 days, up from one every 4 months 20 years ago. 

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners has agreed to provide the data to the Federal Insurance Office of the Treasury Department by September 2024. 

About Ceres 

Ceres is a nonprofit organization working with the most influential capital market leaders to solve the world’s greatest sustainability challenges. The Ceres Accelerator for Sustainable Capital Markets is a center of excellence within Ceres that aims to transform the practices and policies that govern capital markets to reduce the worst financial impacts of the climate crisis. It spurs action on climate change as a systemic financial risk—driving the large-scale behavior and systems change needed to achieve a net zero emissions economy through key financial actors including investors, banks, and insurers. The Ceres Accelerator also works with corporate boards of directors on improving governance of climate change and other sustainability issues. For more information, visit ceres.org and ceres.org/accelerator and follow @CeresNews.