AM Best Comments on Decommissioning of NOAA's Billion-Dollar Climate Disaster Database
OLDWICK, N.J., May 20, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AM Best has commented that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) removal of the billion-dollar weather disaster database could impede insurance companies' ability to track losses due to secondary perils.
The NOAA disasters database, which was created in 1980 to track catastrophes that caused at least $1 billion in economic damage, will be archived but no longer updated beyond 2024. This decommissioning comes following a year when there were 27 one-billion-dollar weather events, and 28 in 2023 (despite there being no NOAA-named hurricane), compared with an average of 15 events in 2010-2022. (See the related Best's Special Report, "US Weather Event Risks Highlight Need for Stress Testing.") Insured catastrophe losses in 2024 were significant, with two major hurricanes, Helene and Milton, responsible for a large portion of the losses, and severe convective storms also contributing materially. The January wildfires in California continue to challenge reinsurance and insurance markets due to starkly increasing risk profiles, regulations and concentration risk.
Overall, secondary perils, which continue to increase in frequency and severity and are illustrated by the recent tornado outbreak in the Central United States, have become a major cause of loss in the past five years for U.S. property/casualty insurers with property catastrophe exposed lines of business, due predominantly to weather patterns, effects of inflation and exposure growth from population migration. Sridhar Manyem, senior director, Industry Research and Analytics, AM Best, said: "Having a common and agreed-upon data source would help insurers trend these losses in their modeling and use the data for pricing, reinsurance and risk management, as well as help assess the gap between insured losses and economic losses and see how insurance can work to minimize the gap.
"Additionally, if more of these data sources were to disappear, parametric triggers within catastrophe bonds, which depend on measurements by the NOAA, may need to be redesigned. While some other countries have governmental agencies that track similar data, private companies may have to step in to fill the void and it could take some years to build credibility and trust among market participants."
AM Best is a global credit rating agency, news publisher and data analytics provider specializing in the insurance industry. Headquartered in the United States, the company does business in over 100 countries with regional offices in London, Amsterdam, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Mexico City. For more information, visit www.ambest.com.
Copyright © 2025 by A.M. Best Rating Services, Inc. and/or its affiliates. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250520570068/en/
Contacts
Christopher Sharkey Associate Director, Public Relations +1 908 882 2310 christopher.sharkey@ambest.com Al Slavin Senior Public Relations Specialist +1 908 882 2318 al.slavin@ambest.com
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
WIRED
29 minutes ago
- WIRED
The EPA Wants to Roll Back Emissions Controls on Power Plants
Jun 11, 2025 4:36 PM "The EPA is trying to get out of the climate change business,' says one expert. Aerial view of the coal powered electricity power station known as Fort Martin outside Morgantown, WV Photograph: Getty Images The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) moved to roll back emissions standards for power plants, the second-largest source of CO2 emissions in the country, on Wednesday, claiming that the American power sector does not 'contribute significantly' to air pollution. 'The bottom line is that the EPA is trying to get out of the climate change business,' says Ryan Maher, a staff attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. The announcement comes just days after the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) quietly released record-breaking new figures showing the highest seasonal concentration of CO2 in recorded history. In a press conference on Tuesday, flanked by legislators from some of the country's top fossil fuel-producing states, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin accused both the Obama and Biden administrations of 'seeking to suffocate our economy in order to protect the environment.' Zeldin singled out data centers as helping to drive unprecedented demand in the US power sector over the next decade. The EPA, he said, is 'taking actions to end the agency's war on so much of our US domestic energy supply.' The proposed EPA rollbacks target a suite of rules on the power plant sector put in place last year by the Biden administration. Those regulations mandated that coal- and gas-fired power plants reduce their emissions by 90 percent by the early 2030s, primarily by using carbon capture and storage technology. Among a swathe of justifications for rolling back regulations, the proposed new EPA rule argues that because US power sector emissions accounted for only 3 percent of global emissions in 2022—down from 5.5 percent in 2005—and because coal use from other countries continues to grow, US electricity generation from fossil fuel 'does not contribute significantly to globally elevated concentrations of GHGs in the atmosphere.' However, electric power generation was responsible for 25 percent of US emissions in 2022, according to the EPA, making it second only to transportation among the dirtiest sectors of the economy. A NYU analysis published earlier this month found that if the US power sector were its own separate country, it would be the sixth-largest emitter in the world. 'This action would be laughable if the stakes weren't so high,' says Meredith Hankins, an attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council. The EPA is also targeting the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) rule, which mandates that power plants maintain controls to reduce the amount of mercury and other toxic air pollutants emitted from their plants. The Biden administration in 2024 strengthened those standards, which date to 2011. Despite progress in reducing mercury emissions since the MATS rule was initially implemented, coal-fired power plants are still the largest source of mercury emissions in the US. The administration has also made it clear that it intends to try to revive the coal industry, which has been on a steep decline since the rise of cheap natural gas and renewables in the 2010s. In a series of executive orders issued in April intended to boost the industry, President Trump tied the future of AI dominance in the US to extending a lifeline to coal. Zeldin and lawmakers who spoke on Tuesday praised the original MATS rule, portraying the 2024 update as an overreach by the Biden administration that imposed undue costs on the fossil fuel industry. ('We're not eliminating MATS,' Zeldin said. 'We're proposing to revise it.') But the coal industry and red states fought hard against the implementation of the original rule, experts who spoke to WIRED point out. 'They do not want to have increased mercury pollution hung around their neck,' Julie McNamara, an associate director of policy with the Climate & Energy program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, says. 'Mercury is a potent neurotoxin that affects the most vulnerable. When coal plants finally installed pollution controls, we had massive mercury pollution reductions and incredible benefits associated with that. I think that's why they want to try and keep the mantle of protecting public health and interest, while trying to make it seem like these were just radical amendments.' The rollbacks are part of a larger attack on the EPA's ability to regulate carbon dioxide as a pollutant, and part of an administration-wide effort to divorce climate science from policy. Earlier this year, Zeldin said that the agency would look to target the endangerment finding, a key determination made by the EPA in 2009 that defined greenhouse gases as dangerous to public health and welfare. That move—outlined in Project 2025—raised public objections even from fossil fuel industry groups like the American Petroleum Institute and the Edison Electric Institute, which represents utility companies. Killing the endangerment finding would require clearing a much higher legal bar than rolling back power plant regulations. The proposed rules will be open for public comment, with the agency stating a final rule should be issued by the end of the year; experts who spoke with WIRED say that they expect this latest move to be challenged in court. However, they all emphasized the fact that the proposal is above and beyond even what the first Trump administration attempted to do in eliminating climate regulations in its first term. 'This is a very big deal, that the EPA is attempting to sideline itself,' McNamara says. 'This is saying, 'We do not believe that we should regulate carbon emissions from power plants.' If you can't justify regulating power plants, then you can't justify regulating oil and gas emissions.' Meanwhile, the planet keeps getting hotter. Figures from Mauna Loa Observatory on Hawaii released quietly by NOAA last week show that May had a monthly average of 430.2 parts per million (ppm), the first time in recorded history that seasonal averages of CO2 exceeded 430 ppm, and 3.5 ppm higher than last year's May average. This reading comes on the heels of similarly-sobering figures the agency downplayed in April showing the largest-ever jump in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations between 2023 and 2024. 'Another year, another record,' Ralph Keeling, director of the Scripps CO2 Program, said in a release on the May numbers. 'It's sad.'
Business Wire
32 minutes ago
- Business Wire
Coeur to Participate in the RBC Capital Markets Global Mining & Materials Conference
CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Coeur Mining, Inc.'s ('Coeur' or the 'Company') (NYSE: CDE) Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Mitchell J. Krebs, and Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Thomas S. Whelan, will participate in the RBC Capital Markets Global Mining & Materials Conference in New York, New York on Thursday, June 12, 2025. The RBC Capital Markets Global Mining & Materials Conference is an invitation-only investment conference. Presentation materials will be made available on the Company's website at About Coeur Coeur Mining, Inc. is a U.S.-based, well-diversified, growing precious metals producer with five wholly-owned operations: the Las Chispas silver-gold mine in Sonora, Mexico, the Palmarejo gold-silver complex in Chihuahua, Mexico, the Rochester silver-gold mine in Nevada, the Kensington gold mine in Alaska and the Wharf gold mine in South Dakota. In addition, the Company wholly-owns the Silvertip polymetallic critical minerals exploration project in British Columbia.
Business Wire
32 minutes ago
- Business Wire
CFP Board Convenes AI Working Group
WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--CFP Board is convening an AI Working Group on June 10-11 at its Washington, D.C., headquarters to explore how artificial intelligence is transforming the financial planning ecosystem and to define the evolving role of human expertise in a tech-powered future. As part of CFP Board's broader strategy to help the profession thrive in an AI-powered world, the group is developing strategic, actionable recommendations to guide the profession forward, helping ensure that technology enhances the human relationships at the core of financial planning. 'AI is not a distant wave. It's already reshaping client expectations and how advisors deliver value,' said CFP Board CEO Kevin R. Keller, CAE. 'CFP Board is taking the lead to help the profession harness AI's potential to elevate financial planning and strengthen engagement.' In partnership with consulting company Heidrick & Struggles and led by CFP Board COO K. Dane Snowden, the AI Working Group brings together financial and technology leaders to explore how the financial planning profession can rise to meet the challenges and opportunities of an AI-driven future. The group is examining emerging trends, real-world use cases and ethical considerations shaping AI adoption across the profession. From enhancing client experiences and streamlining advisor workflows to protecting public trust, the conversations reflect both the complexity and the promise of this pivotal moment. Discussion topics include the Current State of AI, Regulation and The Financial Planner Lens, as well as exercises on exploring future scenarios and evaluating key stakeholder implications. The AI Working Group includes the following members: Andrew Altfest, CFP ®, MBA, Founder and CEO, FP Alpha and President, Altfest Personal Wealth Management Joel Bruckenstein, CFP ®, CMFC, CFS, President, T3 Technology Alan Davidson, former Assistant Secretary of Commerce and Administrator, National Telecommunications and Information Administration Tristan Fischer, Managing Director, Financial Services Consulting, Ernst & Young LLP Tim Foley, Head of Artificial Intelligence Accelerator, LPL Financial David Goldberg, Senior Vice President, Chief Data and Analytics Officer, Edelman Financial Engines Brooke Juniper, CFA ®, CAIA ®, Chief Executive Officer, Sage Trent Mumma, Chief Product Officer, Orion Advisor Solutions Celeste Revelli, CFP ®, BFA ™, CSM ®, CSPO ®, Vice President of Financial Planning Technology, Fidelity Institutional ® (FI) Noah Rosenberg, Chief Financial Officer, Morning Consult Apoorv Saxena, Managing Director, Head of AI/Data Driven Value Creation, Silver Lake Megan Shearer, Ph.D., Senior Data Scientist, Janus Henderson Zar Toolan, General Partner, Head of Data & AI, Edward Jones Brian Walsh, Ph.D., CFP ®, Head of Advice & Planning, SoFi For more information on using AI in financial planning, download CFP Board's Generative AI Ethics Guide, which provides a framework for CFP ® professionals to integrate AI into their practices ethically. ABOUT CFP BOARD CFP Board is the professional body for personal financial planners in the U.S. CFP Board consists of two affiliated organizations focused on advancing the financial planning profession for the public's benefit. CFP Board of Standards sets and upholds standards for financial planning and administers the prestigious CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER ® certification — widely recognized by the public, advisors and firms as the standard for financial planners — so that the public has access to the benefits of competent and ethical financial planning. CFP ® certification is held by more than 100,000 people in the U.S. CFP Board Center for Financial Planning addresses diversity and workforce development challenges and conducts and publishes research that adds to the financial planning profession's body of knowledge.
