SAN FRANCISCO – As the country’s top insurance regulators and industry representatives gathered at the National Association of Insurance Commissioners meeting on November 15, leading environmental and consumer groups gathered to call attention to the most important item not on their agenda: their part in climate change.
The meeting happened under a haze of smoke as wildfires raged across the state, a hint at what runaway climate change will look like and a reminder of the lost lives and properties that insurers are meant to protect against.
Through insuring dangerous dirty energy projects and investing in fossil fuel companies, the insurance industry plays a critical role in driving the use of carbon-intensive energy sources. Although the industry has a mandate to mitigate future risk, this support is accelerating climate chaos. While 19 large international insurers have divested and/or ended underwriting of extreme fossil fuels, no major U.S. insurance company has take action.
