Treasury Department proposes data collection plan to assess climate-related risks to home insurance

Today the Department of the Treasury’s Federal Insurance Office (FIO) proposed a plan for data collection from home insurers to assess climate-related financial risks. 

The proposal would collect underwriting data from 2017 – 2021 to, “assist FIO’s assessment of climate-related exposures and their effects on insurance availability for policyholders, including whether climate change may create the potential for any major disruptions of private insurance coverage in regions of the country particularly vulnerable to climate change impacts.”

As news stories of insured losses and lack of access to homeowners insurance have continued to show how climate change poses financial risks to consumers, data collection to assess that risk is an important step.

The public comment period for this proposal will be open for 60 days after publication in the Federal Register.