U.S. Treasury Department Must Release Data and Report on Climate Impact on Insurance Industry

December 16, 2024

U.S. Treasury Department Must Release Data and Report on Climate Impact on Insurance Industry

WASHINGTON - A coalition of organizations has urged the U.S. Treasury's Federal Insurance Office (FIO) to publish nationwide homeowners insurance data collected by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) from approximately 330 insurers, representing over 80% of the property and casualty market.

In the letter sent on Friday, Public Citizen, Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund, Consumer Federation of America, the Union of Concerned Scientists, Sierra Club, and others called on the office to make public the most granular form of the data possible and for the office to release its promised initial analysis of the impacts climate change has on insurance availability and affordability.

"An insurance crisis is unfolding across the country, and without access to comprehensive national data and analysis, we'll be in the dark as it starts to impact other parts of the economy," said Carly Fabian, senior insurance policy advocate with Public Citizen's Climate Program."It's been three years since the Biden Administration directed the Treasury Department to assess disruptions to insurance markets. It's not clear why the Treasury Department has not yet released basic data and analysis on this issue. This data is crucial to help everyday Americans, advocates and others to prepare and adapt to the climate crisis. People's livelihoods and family budgets are on the line. "

"As the costs of climate change are mounting, insurance companies are raising prices and retreating from entire areas, which is creating an affordability crisis that threatens the homes and life savings of vulnerable households and the economies of communities across all parts of the country," said Jessica Garcia, senior policy analyst for climate finance at Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund."Treasury's FIO was created specifically to fill a gap in the state-based insurance regulation system by collecting and analyzing data. If this critical, first of its kind nationwide data is not made publicly available, then FIO will have set back efforts to develop data- and community-driven solutions to the insurance crisis for years to come."

In March of this year, Treasury's FIO reversed course on a plan approvedby the Office of Management and Budget to collect data from insurance companies, instead saying it would accept an anonymized subset of the data collected by the NAIC. Treasury's FIO confirmed last week that NAIC shared that subset, which it was supposed to have received by the end of September 2024.

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