The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) now requires large property and life insurance companies with premiums of more than $500 million to file an Insurer Climate Risk Disclosure Survey annually, beginning May 1, 2010.

"Climate change will have huge impacts on the insurance industry and we need better information on how insurers are responding to the challenge," said Joel Ario, chair of the NAIC Climate Change and Global Warming Task Force.

The eight-question survey will help regulators assess the exposure to risk from extreme weather events linked to climate change, such as wildfires, drought or flooding. The new mandate from NAIC was adopted following the third most expensive year on record for the insurance industry due to catastrophic damage attributed to climate change.