Cromwell CT – June 20, 2024 – Yesterday, a group of Connecticut climate activists attended the Travelers Championship Golf Tournament Pro Amateur event and handed out golf towels to tournament attendees with the inscription “Dropping Policyholders Is Not a Climate Solution.” More than 100 towels were distributed to the crowd.
The New York Times reported last month that “As climate change produces more extreme weather, insurers are losing money, even in states with low hurricane and wildfire danger.” Insurers are pulling coverage, and homeowners in areas previously thought safe from climate change are facing bankruptcy without insurance.
The activists, representing the Connecticut Citizen Action Group (CCAG) and the international Insure Our Future campaign, demand that Travelers stop underwriting new fossil fuels projects such as oil, gas, and coal, which are driving climate change and exacerbating the home insurance crisis.
Travelers consistently ranks in the bottom half of insurance companies when assessed for its climate policies regarding insuring and investing. Recent research found that Travelers holds $4.7B in fossil fuel-related investments and insures controversial methane gas projects including Sabine Pass in Louisiana and Tacoma LNG in Washington.
Travelers Insurance has the opportunity to lead the way towards a sustainable future, but instead, they continue to support industries that are driving the climate emergency. We are here to call on them to divest from fossil fuels and invest in renewable energy solutions.
Golfers – both professional and recreational – are staring down devastating consequences of climate change.
Most of the US is experiencing a massive heat wave this week, which can create dangerous conditions for players. There is also a great deal of damage to the golf courses, due to flooding, droughts, and extreme humidity. This affects not only the players, and course owners, but the native species that inhabit the woods and ponds.
Last month, more than 300 students from Connecticut universities signed a petition stating they would not work for Travelers unless the company aligned its investment and underwriting policies with global climate goals. CCAG and Third Act also posed questions at the Travelers recent shareholder meeting about the company’s fiduciary responsibility to address the climate emergency.
Additionally, the sustained pressure campaign called “Summer of Heat” in New York City has brought together climate activists from around the world to call on financiers and insurance companies to adopt climate policies and move away from fossil fuel investments.
As the impacts of climate change become increasingly evident, pressure is mounting on corporations to take decisive action. The financial sector, including insurance companies, plays a pivotal role in either perpetuating or mitigating climate change through their investment and underwriting choices.
CCAG is a statewide membership-based organization dedicated to actively engaging the residents of Connecticut to alter the relations of power in order to build a more just society.
The Insure Our Future Coalition is a campaign holding the insurance industry accountable for its role in the climate crisis. Insurance companies are supposed to protect us from catastrophic risks. Yet when it comes to the largest threat to humanity – climate change – insurers are perpetuating dependence on fossil fuels by insuring new coal, oil and gas projects.
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