Treasury halts plan to seek property insurers’ climate data

By Thomas Frank | 03/08/2024 06:45 AM EST

The department will instead use detailed information gathered by state regulators.

Nellie Liang, Treasury undersecretary for domestic finance, testifies before a Senate panel.

Nellie Liang, Treasury undersecretary for domestic finance, announced that the department would not ask insurers for climate data. Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP

The Biden administration has backed away from its plan to force property insurers to provide detailed information about the effects that climate change is having on their policies, premiums and business plans.

Treasury Undersecretary Nellie Liang said Thursday that the department will rely instead on a group of state insurance regulators that was planning a similar effort and has agreed to give Treasury some of the information it collects.

The agreement between Treasury and the National Association of Insurance Commissioners ends an impasse that began in 2021 after President Joe Biden ordered the department to analyze how climate change is affecting property insurers.

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Climate change and inflation are causing tumult in the insurance industry by eroding profits, bankrupting small insurers and prompting large ones to withdraw from states that are prone to hurricanes or wildfires, or scale back their coverage.

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