July 6, 2020
OLYMPIA, Wash. – An international risk management organization has recognized Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler for his two decades of work on climate risk and insurance.
Insurance ERM named Kreidler as the only state insurance regulator in the United States among the 22 most influential in the insurance industry on climate change. His peers include international insurance leaders and others from the financial and investment industries.
“I’m honored to be in such esteemed company, many of whom I’ve worked with through my national and international climate work,” said Kreidler. “I’ve long been advocating for other regulators and political leaders to take seriously the threat to human beings posed by climate change – to our property, economy and our health. I will keep doing this work as long as I’m in a position of leadership.”
Since 2007, Commissioner Kreidler has chaired the National Association of Insurance Commissioners' Climate Risk and Resilience Work Group. In 2015, Kreidler joined the Paris Pledge for Action and his office became a supporting institution for the UNEP FI Principles for Sustainable Insurance Initiative, the largest collaboration between the United Nations and the insurance industry. In 2016, Commissioner Kreidler joined the UN Environment’s Sustainable Insurance Forum, a network of insurance regulators working to strengthen their response to sustainability challenges.
Since 2010, the OIC has partnered with other states to require insurers with a certain dollar amount of premiums to reply to a survey regarding their preparedness to address climate change risks. In addition, Kreidler’s office led a national work group that developed the guidance for other state regulators to use when they evaluate insurers’ climate change risks and investments during financial examinations. These changes were implemented in 2015.
Kreidler will again lead his regular climate summit, this one a virtual gathering scheduled for Oct. 7.