International regulators meet to discuss climate risk response

Insurance regulators from around the world have met in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to develop regulatory responses to climate risk at an international conference chaired by California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones.

Jones is a founding member and chairperson of the Sustainable Insurance Forum (SIF), which is a working group of insurance supervisors from countries around the world which was formed to share and develop best practices among regulators related to sustainable insurance and in particular, risks to the business of insurance posed by climate change.

Insurance supervisors and regulators from Australia, Brazil, California, France, Malaysia, Morocco, the Netherlands, Singapore, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and Washington, as well as the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS), attended the SIF Fall Meeting (SIF Membership also includes Argentina, Ghana, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Sweden, Pakistan, Portugal, and Philippines), which included presentations by various countries' insurance regulators on new climate risk disclosure requirements, and climate risk stress testing for insurers designed to better understand the climate related underwriting and financial risks faced by insurers.

“I will continue to work with insurance regulators from other nations to address climate risks and other insurance sustainability issues,” said Jones. “As a financial regulator, it is important that financial institutions, including insurance companies, recognise and address potentially significant climate risks facing their investments in coal, oil, gas and utilities as the world continues to move away from the carbon economy.”