The Circular Letter is addressed to all New York domestic and authorized foreign insurers. DFS believes that addressing the financial risks from climate change is critical to the solvency and liquidity of the insurance industry. DFS oversight over domestic and authorized foreign insurers, however, is not identical.

No. DFS does not currently plan to issue regulations pertaining to its climate-related supervisory activities, with the exception of Insurance Regulation 203, which we are proposing to amend to include climate change as one of the reasonably foreseeable and relevant material risks to be addressed by insurers’ enterprise risk management function.

As stated in the Circular Letter, questions pertaining to an insurer’s approach and activities related to the financial risks from climate change have been integrated into DFS’s examination process. Insurers will receive information requests related to climate in their First Day Letters to prepare for these exams. DFS issued final Guidance for New York Domestic Insurers on Managing the Financial Risks from Climate Change on November 15, 2021. 

No. The reference to “insurers’ assets” in DFS’s guidance does not apply to third party funds managed by insurers.

It may be done at either the holding company level or the insurer level.

Please refer to DFS’s Guidance for New York Domestic Insurers on Managing the Financial Risks from Climate Change for more information on DFS’s expectations regarding scenario analysis and stress testing.

DFS encourages insurers to consider the financial risks from climate change as they perform their ORSAs but understands that it will take time for companies to include climate considerations in their ORSAs where appropriate. Please refer to DFS’s Guidance for New York Domestic Insurers on Managing the Financial Risks from Climate Change for more information on DFS’s expectations regarding ORSAs.

The TCFD has become a globally adopted framework by regulators and industry alike. Since 2019, insurers may submit TCFD reports in lieu of responding to the NAIC Climate Risk Disclosure Survey, which some insurers have done. DFS understands that the four major components of TCFD (governance, strategy, risks, and metrics and targets) require different levels of sophistication and resources to complete. As such, DFS will continue to engage with industry participants on implementation of the various TCFD components. Please refer to DFS’s Guidance for New York Domestic Insurers on Managing the Financial Risks from Climate Change for more information on DFS’s expectations regarding public disclosure.

In order to ensure open discussion during the seminars, recordings of the seminars have not been made public. However, most of the content covered during the seminars can be found in publicly available disclosure by several companies, including those represented by panelists in the DFS Climate Change Seminar Series. In particular, companies’ public sustainability or TCFD (Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures) reports, CDP disclosures (a free account needs to be set up to access the CDP responses), and NAIC Climate Risk Disclosure Survey responses are good sources of information.

• CDP – Name of disclosure nonprofit CDP
• EIOPA – European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority
• ESG – Environmental, social, and governance
• EU – European Union
• EV – Electric vehicles
• IPCC - Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
• PCAF – The Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials
• PACTA - Paris Agreement Capital Transition Assessment
• RCP - Representative Concentration Pathway
• SDS – Sustainable Development Scenario             
• UN PRI – United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment
• TCFD – Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures

See webinar recording here. 

On November 15, 2021, DFS issued Guidance for New York Domestic Insurers on Managing the Financial Risks from Climate Change. The Guidance established a timeline for implementing DFS’s expectations relating to corporate governance, and having specific plans in place to implement DFS’s expectations relating to organizational structure, by August 15, 2022.

The webinar provided information to support insurers in implementing the expectations set forth in the Guidance.  The insurers on the panel shared their experiences in integrating the consideration of the financial risks from climate change into their governance and organizational structure, and discussed how the structure influenced their management of climate-related risks and opportunities. The Geneva Association, an international think tank focused on strategically important insurance and risk management issues, provided a global perspective on the topic

Moderator: My Chi To, Executive Deputy Superintendent of Insurance, New York Department of Financial Services.

Panelists:

• Lydia Covert, Corporate Sustainability Director, Unum Group
• Maryam Golnaraghi, Director of Climate Change and Environment, The Geneva Association
• Tinashe Masaya, Assistant Vice President, Senior Actuary, Voya Financial 
• Robert Paiano, Chief Risk Officer, The Hartford

See webinar recording here and slides here.

This webinar provided support to help insurers understand and assess the data and tools needed to manage climate related risks and opportunities. The insurers on the panel shared information about climate data currently available in the market, their experiences selecting the right data and tools for their unique objectives, and views on how they assess their climate data needs throughout different phases of their climate risk journeys. The Principles for Responsible Investment, a United Nations-supported international network of investors, provided a global perspective on the topic. 

Moderator: Yue (Nina) Chen, Executive Deputy Superintendent of the Climate Division, New York Department of Financial Services

Panelists:

• Kimberly Gladman, Senior Associate, Climate Change, Principles of Responsible Investment
• Wendy Walford, Head of Climate Risk, Legal & General
• Sarah Wilson, Head of ESG Integration and Responsible Investing, Nuveen, a TIAA company

Links referenced in the webinar: 

• New York Domestic Insurers’ Management of the Financial Risks from Climate Change - An Analysis of NAIC Climate Risk Disclosure Survey Responses and Other Reporting: A DFS report that includes examples of good practices of climate risk management. 
• Climate Risk: An Investor Resource Guide: A resource guide that provides resources, tools, and investor examples to address the four pillars of risk management identified by the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD).
• The Climate Risk Landscape: A report that covers both physical and transition risks and provides a summary of the key developments across third party climate risk assessment providers since May 2019. 

This first seminar in the DFS Climate Change Seminar Series focused on why insurers should care about climate change. Insurers of different sizes and at different stages of the journey of managing the financial risks from climate change shared their experiences, motivations, and challenges. The United Nations Principles for Sustainable Insurance provided a global perspective.   

Moderator: My Chi To, Executive Deputy Superintendent of Insurance

Panelists:

• Jeff Arricale, Chief of Staff and Head of Capital Markets, ProSight Specialty Insurance
• Butch Bacani, Program Leader, United Nations Environment Programme's Principals for Sustainable Insurance
• Francis Bouchard, Group Head of Public Affairs & Sustainability, Zurich Re
• Karen Ignagni, President and CEO, EmblemHealth
• Jon Richter, Vice President of Global Sustainability, MetLife

Disclosure and risk management are essential components of managing the financial risks from climate change. This panel of insurers have undertaken voluntary disclosure efforts and started incorporating climate change into their risk management frameworks. In this session, they explained what they have done and learned in the process and how others might get started as well. Ceres - a corporate sustainability think tank, provided a perspective beyond the insurance industry on these topics.

Moderator: Yue (Nina) Chen, Director of Sustainability and Climate Initiatives

Panelists: 

• Alban de Mailly Nesle, Chief Risk and Investment Officer, AXA Group
• Mark Pasko, Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary, QBE North America
• Mark Prindiville, Executive Vice President and Chief Risk Officer of Allstate Insurance Company
• Veena Ramani, Senior Program Director of Capital Market System, Ceres
• Jennifer Waldner, Chief Sustainability Officer, AIG

Insurers are among the largest debt and equity investors in the world. However, the impact of climate change on the asset side of insurers’ balance sheets typically gets much less attention than the liability side. The insurers on this panel have undertaken voluntary efforts to understand and manage the financial risks that climate change poses to their investments. In this session, they explained what they have done and learned in the process and how others might get started. The UN Principles for Responsible Investment, which has a number of insurance companies as signatories, provided a perspective beyond the insurance industry on these topics.

Moderator: My Chi To, Executive Deputy Superintendent of Insurance

Panelists: 

• Claudia A. Bolli, Head of Responsible Investing, Swiss Re Group Asset Management
• Chris Fowle, Director of the Americas, UN Principles for Responsible Investment
• Karen Niessink, Managing Director, New York Life Investment Management
• Rachele Roth, Investment Manager, Utica National Insurance Group
• Kevin Strobel, CIO and Head of Investments and General Account ALM, Transamerica 

You cannot manage what you cannot measure. What are the meaningful metrics for insurers to measure the financial risks from climate change? Given the complexity and uncertainty surrounding climate change, where should companies start? What targets are being set by the leaders in this space? This session explained what they have done and learned in the process and how others might get started as well. 2 Degrees Investing Initiative, a non-profit think tank, provided a global ad multi-sector perspective on these topics. 

Moderator: Yue (Nina) Chen, Director of Sustainability and Climate Initiatives

Panelists: 

• Thomas Liesch, Climate Integration Lead at Allianz SE
• Maarten Vleeschhouwer, Head of PACTA at 2 Degrees Investing Initiative
• Sarah Wilson, Senior Director, Responsible Investing at Nuveen, a TIAA company

DFS has issued a report on “New York Domestic Insurers’ Management of the Financial Risks from Climate Change - An Analysis of NAIC Climate Risk Disclosure Survey Responses and Other Reporting.” The analysis covers 121 responses by insurers to the 2020 Survey and eight Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures reports submitted in 2020 by a total of 93 groups and non-affiliated companies, representing insurers with countrywide premiums ranging from $100 million to close to $100 billion. Survey questions cover how insurers incorporate climate risks into their governance, risk-management, and investment plans, as well as detail steps taken by insurers to engage key constituencies and policyholders on the topic of climate change.

Based on a framework that it developed, DFS rated insurers’ responses in one of four categories: “Yet to Start,” “Early Stage,” “Making Progress,” or “Good Progress.” DFS intends to continue reviewing insurers’ Survey responses and other disclosure materials to understand insurers’ overall status in identifying, assessing, and managing climate risks, identify good practices that can be shared with the industry, and support risk-based supervision. Insurers’ ratings will be used only for DFS’s supervisory purposes and will not be publicly disclosed.

DFS hosted a webinar on August 4, 2021 to provide an overview of the report.  The recording can be viewed  here. The slides can be viewed here.

DFS has issued a report analyzing New York domestic insurers’ exposure to the financial risks arising from society’s transition towards a low-carbon economy, furthering DFS’s efforts to support insurers in managing the financial risks from climate change. The report, “An Analysis of New York Domestic Insurers’ Exposure to Transition Risks and Opportunities from Climate Change,” is the result of a collaboration between DFS and the 2° Investing Initiative (2DII), an independent, non-profit think tank working to align the financial sector with international climate goals.

The report is intended to provide insurers with an example of a tool that can help them analyze their transition risks and inform actions to mitigate them. Working with DFS, 2DII analyzed the transition risks of New York domestic insurers by assessing the alignment of their equity and corporate bond portfolios using their 2019 Schedule D data against different climate scenarios. The report also outlines investment-related strategies that insurers can consider to mitigate their transition risk exposure.

Insurers can upload their portfolios to 2DII's online platform TransitionMonitor to generate individual reports.  The tool's terms and conditions and confidentiality information can be found here.  2DII and TransitionMonitor are completely independent of DFS. 

DFS and 2DII held two webinars for New York domestic insurers to provide an overview of the aggregate report and discuss how insurers might use their individual reports that were generated by 2DII for insurers included in the analysis.

Recording of the webinar on the aggregate report on June 21, 2021 (WebEx)

Slides of the webinar on the aggregate report on June 21, 2021 (PDF)

Recording of the webinar on the individual reports on July 12, 2021 (WebEx)

There were no slides used for the July 12, 2021 webinar.

Recording of the webinar for Clean Energy Financing for Community and Regional Banks (WebEx)

Slides of the webinar for Clean Energy Financing for Community and Regional Banks (PDF)

Recording of the webinar for Physical Climate Risks in New York, Part 1: Overview on May 24, 2021 (WebEx)

Slides of the webinar for Physical Climate Risks in New York, Part 1: Overview on May 24, 2021 (PDF)

Recording of the webinar for Physical Climate Risks in New York, Part 2: Coastal Risk on May 26, 2021 (WebEx)

Slides of the webinar for Physical Climate Risks in New York, Part 2: Coastal Risk on May 26, 2021 (PDF)

Recording of the webinar for Community and Regional Banks on February 18, 2021 (WebEx)

Slides for the webinar for Community and Regional Banks on February 18, 2021 (PDF)

Recording of the webinar for Mortgage Banking Institutions on February 24, 2021 (WebEx)

Slides for the webinar for Mortgage Banking Institutions on February 24, 2021 (PDF)