The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) is stepping up its efforts to manage the impact of climate change on the industry and communities, amid stark warnings that failure to arrest global warming will cost the world dearly.

The council has set up the Climate Change Action Committee and appointed external specialist Tom Davies to develop a blueprint to “achieve an orderly transition to a low carbon economy”.

“Many global insurers have already implemented significant climate change response programs,” ICA GM Risk Karl Sullivan says in a LinkedIn post.

“Australian insurers have not been idle and many are investing heavily in taking action. A number of potential initiatives may best be achieved through collective effort and to facilitate this, ICA has recently established the committee.”

Mr Sullivan says the low carbon economy blueprint will detail practical projects that draw on the industry’s "unique risk expertise”, and the plan is also expected to improve communities’ resilience to natural perils.

Mr Davies has been involved with climate change adaptation and resilience-related work for over a decade, according to his LinkedIn profile.

ICA’s latest climate change initiatives come as parts of the country swelter through above-normal summer temperatures, which scientists say is amplified by global warming.

Last year’s devastating California wildfires, the worst in the state’s history, were compounded partly by climate change, Munich Re says, citing scientific studies.

Among Australia’s major insurers, IAG and Suncorp have release climate change action plans, while QBE has indicated it will rethink its underwriting strategy on fossil fuels.