Coal mining in surface mine. Miner looking on the huge excavator.

Insurance Giants Deeply Involved in Underwriting U.S. Coal, Undermining Public Net-Zero Commitments

Washington, D.C., 28 September 2023 – New Report shows AIG, Liberty Mutual, Lloyd’s of London, Swiss Re, and Zurich insure at least 41% of U.S. coal output, sometimes violating internal policies aimed at slowing climate change. Global insurance giants continue to underwrite U.S. coal production at alarming rates. While more and more insurance companies are …

Fifteen Years after Great Recession, Activists Call on AIG to Prevent Financial Meltdown Caused by Climate Change

NEW YORK — Fifteen years after  American International Group Inc. (AIG) nearly failed due to reckless financial practices, forcing the federal government to respond with a $182 billion bailout, protesters today rallied at the company’s headquarters, calling on the insurance giant to take steps to quickly end its risky underwriting and investments in fossil fuels. …

Congo oil fields are quickly becoming uninsurable

8 September, Kinshasa – Any company granted exploration and exploitation rights in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) oil auction could find itself without financial protection, according to a report published today by Greenpeace Africa, Insure our Future, Reclaim Finance and Urgewald. If leading insurance and reinsurance companies follow their commitments and their general environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) policies, oil …

U.S. Capitol building, blue skies

Nationwide Insurance Crisis Sparks Senate Hearing, Focusing on Climate Change Financial Impacts

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs will take a deep dive into issues plaguing property insurance markets across the country and the impact changes, including from climate change, will impact consumers. Over the past year, several major insurance companies have limited or withdrawn coverage from states dealing with major …

Sustainability Smokescreen – Analysis of AIG’s 2022 ESG Report

Overview AIG released its 2022 Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) report in July. The report fails to demonstrate progress on its climate commitments. As a major insurance provider for coal, oil, and gas, AIG does not acknowledge how its continued support for fossil fuels actively exacerbates climate-related threats to its business. On March 1, 2022 AIG purported to commit to …

Insurance Industry Scorecard Update Reports 20 Global Insurers now Protect Land Sacred to Alaska Natives in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

FAIRBANKS, AK – An update to the Gwich’in Steering Committee (GSC) insurance industry scorecard released today reports 20 insurers now have a policy that protects Iizhik Gwats’an Gwandaii Goodlit (“The Sacred Place Where Life Begins”) from oil and gas development. The scorecard tracks global insurance companies’ policies on fossil fuel development in the coastal plain of the Arctic …

Swing and a Miss: Travelers Fails to Champion Climate Change

In June, as an activist with Connecticut Citizen Action Group, I took to the greens at the 2023 Travelers’ Championship to gain recognition for the global climate emergency and the complicity in that crisis of the corporate interests involved in the tournament. Over the past month alone, I have seen some of the tragic effects …

A handshake centered in the image. Sleeve on the left is blue and the skin color of the person is a shade of brown. The sleeve on the right is white and the skin color is light brown. A blurred out office is in the background of the handshake.

New analysis reveals insurers financed U.S. far-right politicians who are attacking insurers’ business model

A new analysis finds that far-right politicians in Texas and Louisiana, who have been attacking the insurance industry’s ability to factor in basic climate risks for their business, have quietly been receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars from the insurance industry itself. As the insurance industry faces billions in climate-related losses, this raises the question …

U.S. Capitol building, blue skies

As Climate Change Pushes Insurers Out of California, Rep. Schiff Calls for Data and Transparency around Industries’ Fossil Fuel Investments

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) today introduced legislation intended to require insurance companies to disclose investments and underwriting of fossil fuels companies. The Polluter Portfolio Disclosure Act aims to increase transparency around how insurance companies worsen the climate crisis, particularly as they abandon insurance customers in states that find themselves on the front lines of …

Farmers Insurance to Stop Offering Coverage in Hurricane-Prone Florida

Farmers Insurance announced today that the company will not renew existing automobile, home, and umbrella policies in Florida. The company’s announcement comes after it gave Florida’s Office of Insurance Regulation notice on Monday, beginning a 90-day warning period for policy holders. Farmers’ decision will impact nearly 100,000 policies. In response, Carly Fabian, insurance policy advocate with Public Citizen’s Climate Program, issued …

Farmers Insurance Becomes Latest Company to Limit Insurance Coverage in California

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Farmers Insurance, a subsidiary of Zurich Insurance Group, announced in a statement today that the company began limiting new homeowners insurance policies in California on July 3. Shortly after Farmer’s revealed that it would limit new coverage, the American Property Casualty Insurance Association (APCIA) called for reform of California’s insurance regulatory framework to make …

Federal Insurance Office Report Sees Fragmented Approach to Climate-Related Risks

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Treasury Department’s Federal Insurance Office (FIO) today released a report on climate-related regulation and supervision of insurers. The report assesses the limitations of existing regulation and includes 20 recommendations. In response, Carly Fabian, insurance policy advocate with Public Citizen’s Climate Program issued the following statement: Alex Martin, Policy Director for Climate and Finance …

Travelers Under Fire for Ignoring Climate and Human Rights Concerns with Saudi PGA Merger, Activists Rally at Championship Tournament in Cromwell

CROMWELL, CT – Today (6/21/23), Connecticut Citizen Action Group and the Insure Our Future coalition rallied outside the Travelers Championship Tournament in Cromwell, protesting the company’s investment and underwriting of fossil fuel expansion. For the second year in a row, protestors were accompanied by Hartford’s Proud Drill Drum and Dance Corp, an organization that works …

U.S. Capitol building, blue skies

Senate Budget Committee Calls on AIG and other U.S. Insurers to Disclose Fossil Fuel Support and Respect Human Rights

WASHINGTON, D.C. –  The Senate Budget Committee today called on insurance giants American Insurance Group, Inc. (AIG), Chubb Corp, Liberty Mutual Group, Starr Wright USA, Berkshire Hathaway, State Farm, and Travelers Insurance to disclose their coverage for and investments in fossil fuels and information on how each insurer respects human rights. The Committee’s letter, sent by Chairman Senator Whitehouse …

U.S. Senate Budget Committee’s Letters to Insurance Companies

Senator Whitehouse (D-RI), Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, and fellow Committee members Senators Wyden (D-OR) and Sanders (I-VT) launched an investigation into how the U.S. insurance industry evaluates climate-related risks, decides to invest in or underwrite fossil fuel expansion projects that drive such risks, and prices policies that insure such projects. In letters sent to AIG, Berkshire …

One Year After Explosion in Freeport, 140+ Groups Demand Insurance Companies Stop Insuring Dangerous Methane Gas Expansion

Watch the Freeport community voice their demands at 11am CT on June 8: HERE June 8, 2023 — As insurers abandon communities facing rising climate threats from the Gulf Coast to California, fears of an uninsurability crisis in the US are growing. However, many of the same companies are making these risks worse by continuing …

Open Letter to Insurers to Stop Insuring Liquified Natural Gas facilities

Over 140 organizations, representing frontline communities and allies, sent an open letter to the world’s largest insurance corporations, like Liberty Mutual, Chubb, AIG, demanding they stop insuring methane gas export terminals and meet with the community members affected by these projects. More than 20 liquified “natural” gas (LNG) facilities are proposed to be built along the Gulf …

Insurers and Their Largest Shareholders Fail the Climate Test This Proxy Season

Questions about companies’ plans to address climate change dominate general meetings, shareholder proposals fail to receive majority support At their annual general meetings (AGMs) this year, U.S insurance companies Chubb, The Hartford, and Travelers and their largest shareholders failed this proxy season’s climate test. Concerned investors filed resolutions to address the climate and human rights-related …

Gwich’in Steering Committee Speaks at Travelers Annual Meeting, Requests U.S. Insurance Giant Not Support Oil and Gas Projects in the Arctic Refuge

Hartford, CT – Traveling over 4,300 miles from Alaska to Connecticut, the Gwich’in Steering Committee delivered a statement today at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Travelers, a major U.S. company with a history of underwriting oil and gas projects. Trillium Asset Management, shareholders of Travelers, invited GSC to speak on behalf of their proposal …

The Hartford Shareholders Fail Climate Test

Hartford, CT – Advocates calling for climate action from The Hartford said the insurer and its largest shareholders failed the climate test in light of results of a vote on a climate shareholder resolution at the company’s annual general meeting (AGM) last Wednesday. Shareholders were asked to vote on a resolution filed by Green Century …

Why the insurance industry must stop supporting fossil fuels

It’s time for U.S. insurers to catch up with global efforts to tackle the crisis. There are no more excuses.

Rolling Stone: Big Insurance Is Climate’s Quiet Killer

A coalition of climate justice organizations is targeting Liberty Mutual for underwriting fossil fuels By  ELANA SULAKSHANA  &  TAMARA TOLES O’LAUGHLIN The following article was published on April 20 at RollingStone.com. Climate and social justice advocates have long worked to connect the dots between flows of big money and the main players propping up the …

Are U.S. Insurers Breaking Up with Fossil Fuels?

In the last six months of 2019, four U.S. insurance companies took encouraging action to limit coal insurance, directly citing the risks of climate change to the economy and society.

AIG Confirms Support for Coal Insurance

Days after a World Economic Forum report found the top five global economic threats to all be related to climate change, AIG’s CEO Brian Duperrealt confirmed the insurance giant’s support for coal on a panel in Davos.

What will 2020 bring for coal insurance?

The insurance industry’s shift away from coal, the biggest source of CO2 emissions, is accelerating. When we launched our 2019 coal insurance scorecard in early December, we were excited to see that since April 2017, 17 insurers had withdrawn from the coal sector. What used to be a European phenomenon had also ignited action among …

Bill McKibben in Boston Globe: “Where is Liberty Mutual in the climate change fight?”

In a follow-up to his New Yorker article featuring Insure Our Future’s strategy to disrupt the biggest sources of fossil fuels finance, McKibben details how Liberty Mutual is one of the worst insurance actors in the world when it comes to supporting fossil fuels.

AXIS Capital Adopts New Fossil Fuel Policy

Slowly but surely, climate ambition is growing among the U.S. insurance industry. AXIS’ policy is the strongest one yet for a U.S. insurer, as it applies to both tar sands and coal

How the Insurance Industry Bears Responsibility for the Climate Crisis

In this op-ed, a risk management student argues that the insurance industry could help address the climate crisis by refusing to back environmentally-destructive projects.

RAN launches new campaign on top fossil insurer Liberty Mutual

Tell Liberty Mutual to ditch fossil fuels!

Money is the Oxygen in which the Fire of Global Warming Burns

Bill McKibben, author, professor, and founder of 350.org, discusses the role that insurers, banks, and asset managers play in contributing to climate change.

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