Advocates urge the release of climate impact insurance data, which looks at how insurers are denying homeowners coverage due to climate-related risks. The coalition argues that the data will be crucial to understanding the affordability and availability of home insurance in the United States and how the warming planet drives the national insurance crisis.
What's happening?
According to Insurance Business, a coalition of consumer advocacy groups wrote a letter to the Federal Insurance Office (FIO) requesting the release of the data collected by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. The organization got the information from 330 insurers, which represent 80% of the country's property and casualty market.
In the request, the advocacy groups wanted the data to be made available, in addition to an analysis about how the changing climate has impacted people's ability to afford and find coverage.
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"A national insurance crisis is emerging with significant implications for other areas of the economy," Insurance Business paraphrased Carly Fabian, senior insurance policy advocate with Public Citizen's Climate Program.
The Biden administration had requested a release of this data three years ago, but the release was delayed.
Why is the release of this insurance important?
Jessica Garcia, senior policy analyst for climate finance at Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund, told Insurance Business that if the "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."
The pivotal insurance crisis reflects a trend for insurance companies in areas with greater climate-related risks to issue non-renewals of insurance for homeowners. They often cite climate risk as the reason for their non-renewal, which has led to over 100,000 non-renewals in states like California, according to the Center for International Environmental Law.
What's being done about the withholding of data?
A national insurance crisis is predicted to be brought on by climate-related non-renewals. However, insurance companies themselves are said to compound the climate crisis, underscoring more climate damage and, ultimately, more non-renewals. Urging the FIO to release this data will not only hold insurance companies accountable but also address the growing issue of how the climate is impacting homeowners nationwide.
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