Lara rejected a petition by more than 60 groups to require disclosure in 2019.
THE ANGELS, April 9, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Commissioner of Insurance Ricardo Lara should hold insurance companies accountable for their contribution to the climate crisis by requiring disclosure of the fossil fuel projects they insure, Consumer Watchdog said today. Commissioner Lara hosts a climate summit April 9-10 in The angels.
The group renewed the call of more than 60 environmental, consumer and social justice organizations whose petition for regulations to mandate disclosure of insurance and fossil fuel investments was rejected by Commissioner Lara in 2019. Last week, Insure Our Future reported that 12 insurance companies in California that have announced coverage limits in the state have made an estimate 3.6 billion dollars by insuring fossil fuel infrastructure.
Read the 2019 petition and Commissioner Lara’s rejection.
By refusing to even disclose the fossil fuel signing United States insurers are far behind Europe. With this week’s announcement from ZurichWorld’s 6th largest fossil fuel insurer to no longer underwrite new oil and gas and metallurgical coal projects All major European insurers have stopped insuring new oil and gas production, according to Insure Our Future.
“Commissioner Lara cannot position himself as a climate advocate without getting insurance companies to acknowledge their contribution to climate change. The insurance industry must be held accountable for passing all the costs of climate change onto consumers while continuing to reap billions in profits from investing in and underwriting planet-destroying fossil fuel activities,” said Carmen Balber executive director of Consumer Watchdog.
Consumer Watchdog said insurance companies complicit in climate change should have additional responsibilities to pull us back from the brink. Legislators and public interest groups in Connecticut proposed a fee on insurers guaranteeing fossil fuel projects to finance disaster mitigation, a step California should follow.
The climate summit comes as insurance companies keep Californians over the barrel, with sales pauses and non-renewals making access to affordable home insurance in the state increasingly difficult. However, Insurance Commissioner Lara’s proposed solution to the crisis would fulfill the insurance industry’s wish list without guaranteeing any new California homeowners’ access to coverage, Consumer Watchdog said.
Commissioner Lara announced that he would deregulate basic insurance protections for consumers in exchange for a “commitment” by insurance companies to expand home insurance coverage in wildfire areas to 85% of their market share outside the risk areas. Consumer Watchdog obtained documents through the Public Records Act that reveal two huge loopholes in the deal. First, insurers would be allowed to fulfill their commitment by offering bare-bones policies—the type of policy that homeowners already have access to under the FAIR plan. Second, the commissioner can revoke the “85% commitment” for any insurer that claims it cannot meet it.
See documents obtained under the Public Records Act and an analysis of Commissioner Lara’s plan here.
The Insure Our Future Campaign, a national coalition of environmental, consumer and grassroots organizations, last week released a brief finding that the “Dirty Dozen Insurers” — those who blame climate risks for imposing coverage restrictions in California — have an approximate estimate 113 billion dollars of investments in and 3.6 billion dollars in fossil fuel revenue insurance. Analysis by Insure Our Future found that homeowners could lose between $9.87 to $32.1 billion in property value as a result of more than 100,000 non-renewals. Read the brief: https://us.insure-our-future.com/californias-dirty-dozen/.
SOURCE Consumer Watchdog
