What to do when your CEO is  planning for the wrong decade

This piece is aimed at corporate sustainability officers, not homeowners, but one thread runs straight into your own finances: insurance in places exposed to wildfire, drought, and flooding is shifting fast.

Between 2020 and 2025, U.S. insurers declined to renew 2.8 million policies in fire-prone ZIP codes. At the same time, some companies are adjusting rather than pulling back. Mercury committed to write 38,000 new policies in California, including in distressed areas. CSAA added a three-year renewal guarantee for homeowners who earn the IBHS Wildfire Prepared Home designation — a certification for homes built or retrofitted to resist wildfire damage. Chubb built an internal team to model climate risk going forward instead of relying on past weather patterns.

The broader point is that insurers increasingly treat heat, drought, and wildfire risk as permanent conditions rather than occasional bad luck, and they are pricing and underwriting accordingly. For homeowners, that means where you live and whether your home carries wildfire-resistance certifications or upgrades can increasingly affect whether you can get coverage at all, not just what it costs. If you're in a wildfire-prone area, it may be worth checking whether your insurer offers any discount, guarantee, or renewal protection tied to home-hardening measures like the IBHS designation, and whether your state has its own version of these programs.