Ceres released comprehensive guidance to help the U.S. insurance industry reimagine its future in a climate-changing world, offering a clear roadmap for maintaining insurance availability, affordability and the industry’s long-term health amid escalating and costly climate disasters.
The severity and frequency of record-breaking hurricanes, wildfires, and other unnatural catastrophes continues to destroy entire communities and economies. The U.S. faced $92 billion in economic damages in 2023, and 2024, already predicted to be the warmest on record, faces $100 billion in losses, with Hurricanes Milton and Helene expected to cost more than $50 billion each. This has caused insurers to retreat from high-risk markets and raise insurance premiums.
Ceres 10-Point Plan for the Insurance Industry presents a new vision for how insurance can navigate this reality, issuing a set of recommendations for insurance companies, regulators, and other industry stakeholders, including investors and governments. Ceres’ plan addresses the multifaceted approach needed from insurers and regulators to address increasing climate risks and build a more resilient and sustainable insurance sector.
“The insurance industry stands at a critical crossroads,” Jaclyn de Meddici Bruneau, Director of Insurance at Ceres. “By leveraging their deep risk management and economic influence, insurers and regulators can and must do more to adapt to our increasingly changing climate. Our 10-point plan offers a clear path for their longevity and growth while strengthening the communities they serve with actions to help improve climate mitigation and resilience.”
Ceres’ 10-point plan calls for:
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Implementing Climate Transition Action Plans: Adopt, publish, and implement a transition plan detailing your decarbonization strategies.
Ceres has issued a number of reports on the insurance industry and its response to a changing climate. Earlier this year Ceres released, Navigating Climate Risks: Progress and Challenges in U.S. Insurance Sector Disclosures, analyzing the insurance industry’s annual climate-related financial risk disclosures. In 2023, Ceres, in partnership with the California Department of Insurance and Manifest Climate, released the first systematic review of U.S. insurance companies’ climate risk strategies.
