Connecticut and Minnesota regulators have decided to joinCalifornia, New York and Washington in requiring insurers torespond to a survey on climate change.

Additionally, California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones saysthe survey has been expanded by requiring all companies writingmore than $100 million in direct premiums to respond to the ClimateRisk Survey, adopted in 2009 by the National Association ofInsurance Commissioners (NAIC). The previous threshold was $300million in direct premiums written.

Jones says the choice to expand the survey “will double thenumber of companies required to respond and will give insuranceregulators, investors and policyholders a better picture of howinsurers are responding to climate change.”

“It is important that we identify those climate-related factorsthat can affect the marketplace and in particular the availabilityand cost of insurance,” says Connecticut Insurance CommissionerThomas B. Leonardi, in a statement. “These surveys give us anotherwindow into the industry's risk management practices as they relateto changing weather patterns.”

Leonardi says about 110 insurance companies meet the criteria ofat least $100 million in direct premiums written.

The survey includes eight questions to be submitted toregulators by Aug. 30. Questions deal with carbon footprintreduction plans and risk management to deal with the changingenvironment, like the use of computer modeling and geographicalareas at greatest risk. Survey results will be made available tothe public.

Leonardi says the information obtained by the survey will alsobenefit insurance industry investors and reinsurers. He says thesurvey is “another opportunity for the industry to help us allchart a safer and more prepared approach for significant weatherevents to ultimately mitigate damage and reduce costs for theconsumer.”

“Left to its own devices, the insurance industry is likely to bereactive, pulling back from high risk areas and harming consumers,”says Andrew Logan, insurance director at Ceres, an investorgroup active in pushing for stronger climate disclosure by theindustry. “This action by insurance regulators will encourageinsurers to be proactive, thinking through how they can work withat-risk consumers and communities to make them more resilient inthe face of climate change.”

“2011 set a record for billion-dollar weather disasters, and2012 was the second worst year in the history of the insuranceindustry (trailing only 2005, which included Hurricanes Katrina,Rita and Wilma). From an insurer perspective, climate change ishere,” adds Logan.

The insurance industry has been less than enthusiastic.

“Not even within the power and utilities sector must companiescomply with mandatory disclosures of their plans to combat climatechange through its operations and investments,” says David Kodama,senior director of research and policy analysis for the PropertyCasualty Insurers Association of America. “Nonetheless, insurershave the utmost interest in accurately assessing the potential riskand impact of future weather and climate conditions. It is criticalto understand though that climate risk is one among many importantstrategic risks for insurers. Broadly speaking, it is somethingthat insurance companies consider and manage through its overallenterprise risk management, and not necessarily in isolation.

And read this column: NAIC's Climate Dogma Is PuttingInsurers At Risk, by Robert Detlefson, vice president ofpublic policy at the National Association of Mutual InsuranceCompanies.

RELATED:

PC360-NU Cover story: ClimateChange & Insurance: Existential Threat—or ExtraordinaryOpportunity?

Ceres: Insurers Acknowledge Climate Change, but Are Not Preparedfor Threats

Author Bryan Walsh of TIME recently talked with the CEO of SwissRe Americas, J. Eric Smith, who says, “What keeps us up at night isclimate change,” Smith said. “We see the long-term effect ofclimate change on society, and it really frightens us.”

Read more: http://science.time.com/2013/07/17/the-costs-of-climate-change-and-extreme-weather-are-passing-the-high-water-mark/#ixzz2ZPckOdkr