Jaclyn de Medicci Bruneau On Insurance After 'Sounding The Alarm'

Last month, an anonymous memo from current and former senior insurance executives landed like a meteor within the industry — and created shockwaves felt far beyond it.

Sounding the Alarm, published by the non-profit Inside Track, warned that the insurance industry is on autopilot in the face of escalating climate risks, and that the broader financial and economic system could come undone unless this changes.

The memo certainly made an impression, and was covered extensively by mainstream media and specialist publications alike. But how much of it was really new, and what should happen now that the alarm has sounded?

Today’s guest has some answers. Jaclyn de Medicci Bruneau is Director of Insurance at Ceres, the sustainability non-profit, and has scrutinized the insurance market from almost every angle. From her start as an insurance examiner at Wisconsin’s insurance regulator, she rose to become chief of its Property and Casualty Division, before becoming director of regulatory affairs at the state’s rating bureau and managing personal lines products in high-risk wildfire states. Today, she leads Ceres’ insurance program and serves as a consumer liaison representative to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC).

Jaclyn explains why the memo could be an important inflection point in changing the insurance market’s approach to climate risk. She also points to regulatory reforms underway in California that could remedy some of the problems the memo highlights, and explains why improved climate risk disclosure is a crucial step toward a clearer understanding of the industry’s risks — drawing on Ceres’ recent progress report as evidence.

Listen by clicking the link below, or tune in via Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

Thanks for listening!

Louie Woodall
Editor