Earth Day
In Honor of Earth Day 2025. Here’s How the Insurance Industry Is Driving Environmental Change
On Earth Day, we once again take a moment to reflect on the growing threat of climate change. In recent years, climate change has crept into every sector of our lives, including the insurance industry. Modern clients now expect environmentally friendly policies — but what, exactly, does this mean?
It turns out, the insurance industry has been incorporating sustainability into its core for over a decade. From high-level governmental protocol to simple internal changes, there are a variety of ways in which the insurance industry is driving environmental change. In honor of Earth Day 2023, let’s take a look at three key sustainable insurance initiatives.
AI in Insurance
Ed. Note: Chief AI Officers in Insurance C-Suite
As business conditions change insurance companies have often met new challenges and technology by adding "Chief Officer Roles" which signals the importance and priority. Many carriers have chief strategy and transformation officers and/or chief digital officers but not a C-Suite Officer wholly focused on and responsible for AI across the P&C insurance enterprise.
Either way, the future of AI in Insurance is clear and full of potential and we will continue to focus on this topic.
New C-Suite title: AI Officer
The chief AI officer is becoming a fixture in the corporate C-suite, reflecting rising interest in AI and its legal and ethical implications.
In the past year, General Motors, Mastercard and ZocDoc made CAIO hires. Momentum Worldwide appointed its first-ever chief AI officer last week. Beyond internal AI adoption, the role is often concerned with tracking external AI innovations. This trend signals a broader move to embed AI into core business operations — at the highest level — to improve efficiency.
Megan McDonough, Editor at LinkedIn News
Agentic AI: Driving the ‘Next Best Action’ (NBA) in Insurance and Financial Services
From fast breaks to fast claims, how digital coworkers are reshaping decision-making at scale.
It’s NBA playoff season—where winning comes down to timing, agility, and knowing the next best move. For insurers and financial services providers, the stakes aren’t much different.
In a world of increased risk, rising expectations, and chronic workforce gaps, the organizations that thrive are those that move with clarity and precision. Whether it’s an underwriter prioritizing submissions, a claims adjuster assessing file completeness, or a financial advisor tailoring recommendations—timing and context matter.
Enter Agentic AI: intelligent digital coworkers trained to surface the Next Best Action (NBA) across complex decision-making workflows. Unlike generic automation or chat-based AI, these agents operate with autonomy, accuracy, and auditability—delivering value not just in productivity metrics, but in real-time business agility.
As the pressure mounts across insurance and financial services, Agentic AI is emerging not just as a tool, but as a strategic advantage. And the organizations that embrace it now are setting the pace for 2025 and beyond.
Robin Roberson, President & Co-Founder, Agentech
Gen AI Is Shaking Up Underwriting, but Can It Replace Human Judgment?
Artificial intelligence technology has continued to evolve, and it’s affecting many areas of insurance from claims to underwriting to customer service, according to panelists at the 2025 PLUS D&O Symposium in New York City.
But has the technology developed so much that it could replace human underwriting in the next five years?
Tariffs/Insurance
Mitchell: Expect tariffs to disrupt supply chains, increase repair costs beginning this summer
New tariffs on assembled vehicles and some automotive parts are expected to disrupt supply chains and increase repair costs. However, Mitchell International says the impact likely won’t hit until mid- to late summer.
A 25% tariff on assembled vehicles imported into the U.S. went into effect on April 3, and a 25% tariff on some parts is set to begin May 3.
During an April 17 CIECA webinar, Ryan Mandel, Mitchell’s auto physical damage solutions claims performance director, noted that the scope of the tariffs has changed dramatically over the last month and could change again, including the addition of more parts.
AM Best: Tariff Uncertainty Could Lead to Credit Rating Changes for Insurers
According to AM Best, the balance sheets of insurers can be pressured by the stock and bond market volatility caused by recent tariffs, resulting in financial exposure that could lead to some changes in credit ratings.
The industry financial strength rating agency called the impact from the tariffs “credit negative,” but it has yet to take any actions on insurers. Its observations of the equity and bond markets before the 90-day pause of proposed tariffs allowed it to assess exposure to public equities.
“Insurance companies have financial exposure to public equities—more so for P/C companies—whose decline will lead to unrealized losses and ultimately, declines in capital,” said Sridhar Manyem, senior director, AM Best, of a scenario in which the tariffs outlined on April 2 are implemented again. “There are 166 P/C insurers that have more than 25% of their assets allocated to equities.”
Los Angeles Wildfires
Property owners sue California insurance companies over alleged 'collusion' following wildfires
A new lawsuit alleges that California's major insurers worked together to push higher premiums and lower coverage caps onto property owners.
A group of property owners affected by the January wildfires is suing major California insurance carriers, including the state's largest, State Farm, accusing them of violating California's antitrust and unfair competition laws.
The lawsuits follow others regarding insurers' handling of the aftermath of the Eaton and Palisades fires, including against Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara and the California FAIR Plan (specifically about smoke damage), the state's beleaguered insurance plan of last resort.
The group complaint and demand for jury trial filed Saturday in Los Angeles Superior Court allege that in a "nefarious conspiracy," major insurers conspired to "eliminate competition between them," thereby "intentionally and systematically" forcing homeowners to accept the California FAIR Plan.
On the same day, lawyers filed a separate class action lawsuit alleging the same thing.
“Insurance is a product that homeowners hope never to need, but rely on for peace of mind in normal times and for critical help rebuilding after a catastrophe,” Michael J. Bidart of Shernoff Bidart Echeverria LLP, one of the law firms representing the plaintiffs, said in a statement. “The complaints allege that, by colluding to push plaintiffs and so many like them to the FAIR Plan, the defendants have reaped the benefits of high premiums while depriving homeowners of coverage that they were ready, willing, and able to purchase to ensure that they could recover after a disaster like January’s wildfires.”
Navigating The Future Of Insurance: Collaboration And Regulation
It was an ordinary Tuesday in California until a phone call changed everything: "The hill behind your house is on fire."
My stomach dropped.
I then saw text messages from my kids’ school informing parents they needed to pick up their children immediately. I rerouted my car, headed toward the school and made some frantic phone calls.
Though I learned my kids were safe, I could hardly breathe until I saw them with my own eyes. When I found myself in gridlocked traffic close to our designated meeting place, smoke billowing everywhere, I pulled over and ran to reach them.
After my family was safely relocated, the large-scale devastation started to sink in. I began to wonder: What will rebuilding Los Angeles look like? Is the future insurable?
Garret Gray is the president of Global Insurance Solutions at Cotality (formerly CoreLogic)
Predict & Prevent
From Individual to Collective: Transforming Resilience Strategies for a Safer Future - Risk & Insurance
In an era of increasingly severe weather events and natural catastrophes, the question of how to protect our communities by making them more resilient is no longer theoretical but urgent. The rising tide of insured losses has triggered a cascade of consequences: soaring rates, restricted coverage and some insurers withdrawing from vulnerable markets.
This new reality demands a fundamental shift in how we approach resilience, moving from individual responsibility to collective action. Mitigating climate risks obviously benefits property owners and their insurers by not only reducing losses and preserving market stability, but it also has wider benefits. For example:
Communities thrive when residents maintain intact homes and buildings, avoiding long-term economic harm. This prevents overwhelming local emergency response resources and services and protects the community’s tax base.
Lenders avoid defaults when homeowners maintain intact properties, which strengthens property-backed securities. Financial institutions can also create financing opportunities for individual and community resilience projects.
Construction contractors gain business through increased demand for resilient building materials and designs. This growth extends to jobs retrofitting property and infrastructure to better withstand known risks.
With the interests of multiple stakeholders aligned around resilience, stakeholders must collaborate to achieve meaningful results. Collaborative action overcomes fragmented resources, misaligned incentives, distributed expertise, jurisdictional complexities and short term thinking that prevent any single stakeholder from addressing the challenge alone.
InsurTech/M&A/Finance💰/Collaboration
InsurTech deals in Q1 2025 as funding bounced back by 59% YoY
Key Global InsurTech investment stats in Q1 2025:
- Global InsurTech funding increased by 59% YoY
- US firms secured half of all InsurTech deals in Q1 2025 to remain as the leading InsurTech hub
- High Definition Vehicle Insurance (HDVI), a technology-first commercial auto InsurTech, secured one of the largest InsurTech deals of the quarter with a $40m growth capital raise
In Q1 2025, the global InsurTech market showed a mixed performance, with funding increasing despite a decline in deal volume.
Total funding rose to $1.1bn, a 59% increase from the $718m raised in Q1 2024.
However, the number of deals dropped by 22%, falling from 91 to 71.
This divergence suggests a shift in investor focus towards fewer but higher-value opportunities, as the sector begins to stabilise after a prolonged downturn.
While the rebound in funding points to a gradual return of confidence, the lower deal count reflects continued caution in broader investment activity.
FinTech Global
Zubie Launches Integration of Bosch RideCare Smoke Detection Technology Into Telematics Platform for Rental Companies
Zubie, a market leader in car rental telematics, and Bosch, the world's largest mobility technology provider, announced a collaboration to bring Bosch's RideCare smoke detection capabilities to rental car companies.
This collaboration combines Zubie's expertise in fleet management solutions with the Bosch RideCare technology, delivering an innovative tool to help enhance transparency, improve customer experience and boost profitability for rental car operators.
Bosch is renowned for its automotive technology solutions – from spark plugs to vehicle computers and more – and is ranked as the largest automotive supplier in the world by Automotive News. Bosch has long been a driving force in mobility innovation and is synonymous with important automotive innovations such as electronic engine management and the ESP anti-skid system. The company operates in some 60 countries worldwide and works with many major OEM across cars, trucks, and buses.
Zubie, a pioneer in car rental telematics, empowers fleet operators with real-time insights to optimize operations and reduce costs. Through this collaboration, Zubie will integrate Bosch RideCare's advanced in-vehicle smoke detection feature—a component of the broader RideCare solution—into its platform. This technology has been shown to reduce smoking events by up to 90 percent within six months, helping fleet operators maintain cleaner, smoke-free vehicles. Powered by an intelligent sensor box, it provides rental car companies with reliable, real-time data on smoking events, complete with timestamps and geolocation, which helps to maintain a smoke-free fleet and enhance customer satisfaction.
Recommended Events
Insurtech Hartford Symposium 2025 | April 29th & 30th | Connecticut Convention Center
The InsurTech Hartford Symposium is a highly immersive conference experience that brings together great minds and world-class leaders offering the perfect ecosystem to Learn, Connect, and Unwind.
Come hear and meet our own Alan Demers
Payments
Digital Disbursements, Claims Eliminate Insurance Pain Points
The digital transformation of the insurance industry is a work in progress.
Digitizing trillions of dollars in payments bumps up against the complexities of the claims processes, and the tangled web of interactions between carriers, policyholders, regulators and a host of multiple payees.
eCommerce has set a high bar for all manner of industries, and insurance is no exception.
If we can make an iPhone or an Android phone buzz with a deposit, satisfying a claim while the policyholder is still on the line with the adjuster, or still texting back and forth with the adjuster, we can create a much more satisfying solution and one where the promise of insurance is actually realized,” One Inc. CEO Ian Drysdale told PYMNTS in an interview.
The efforts are titanic in scope. Drysdale said insurers must navigate 50 different regulators in 50 different states. The ways in which surcharges or convenience fees, premiums and other financial interactions are calculated and conducted vary from market to market. A key example lies with auto insurance, where 28% of claims are related to “totaled” status, seeking to recoup the total value of the car.
Insurers must find out how much is due on the auto loan, who holds that loan and where to pay off that loan.