Combatting Climate Change: The Push For More Robust Disclosures From Insurers

As heat waves spike, wildfires rage, droughts languish, and storms become more severe, the climate crisis has been thrown into stark relief. ¹ It is against this backdrop that investors are now pushing insurance companies for more robust climate disclosures, part of a larger environmental, social, and governance (ESG) effort, and regulators are taking action, with a final ruling from the SEC on a pending proposal to require publicly registered insurance companies to provide extra information about direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions they produce expected at the end of 2022 or in early 2023. The insurance industry's investments in, and insurance policies issued in connection with, fossil fuel assets give the industry a unique position from which to consider adopting more sustainable business practices. For example, in California, the biggest property and casualty insurance market in the country, insurers had almost $540 billion invested in fossil fuel assets